


Served Cold

by Dafaolta



Series: Served Cold [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-10
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-22 04:46:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3715558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dafaolta/pseuds/Dafaolta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moira Queen isn't used to being questioned by servants, especially servants who don't know their place. Felicity Smoak should never have interfered in what was none of her business. Making sure the girl learned her lesson would take careful planning, but Moira was good with plans. Eventual Olicity. Canon roughly thru 2.13.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Moira is not one to take things lying down. I imagine she will be looking for ways to make Felicity pay for telling Oliver her secret. Eventual Olicity, because there is no other way.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: As usual, I own nothing but the mistakes (the ones I've made).

I underestimated Ms. Smoak. I had hoped to keep Oliver in the dark until after the election at least. I was counting on his unstinting support during the campaign and this will make it difficult.

I'm not sure if I'm angrier at Walter or Ms. Smoak. If Walter had not involved her, if he hadn't insisted on questioning the Tempest issue in the first place, I would never have had to endure being confronted by Oliver's ... secretary. In my own home.

The fact that she's still employed has me questioning what her relationship to Oliver actually is. I hadn't expected there to be any substance to the office rumors but his father was always susceptible to a pretty face. I'd simply hoped that Oliver was more my son than Robert's in that regard.

I could see that Ms. Smoak was infatuated with my son. Now I'm forced to consider that he may return her feelings, at least in part. He used to be so open, wearing all his emotions on the surface. Ever since his return, all he's shown has been surface emotions, only what would be expected of him in a given situation.

This will make exacting my revenge complicated. I love my son, in spite of his harsh words and stormy reaction. I know it will take time for him to come to terms with what he perceives as my betrayal, but I know he will eventually forgive me. All it will take is for Malcolm to threaten Thea in some way and he will see that I was right.

I will need to proceed carefully from here on. I will need to maintain a greater distance than I have so far, keeping multiple layers between me and the deed. And the drama welling up with the Lance sisters will certainly serve as a useful distraction for my son while I act.

To begin with, I think I will ask my ... associates to abduct her. Oliver is still unaware of my part in that episode, so it might be that I could arrange it to seem like Malcolm is the culprit here. If Thea or I were also attacked, possibly even slightly injured at the same time, it would further confuse the issue.

There will need to be some surveillance before the deed is done, in any case. I will not have Oliver injured in this. I need to be sure that Ms. Smoak can be taken without his presence or potential interference, though it would be helpful if I can maneuver his presence when either Thea or I are attacked.

If Oliver's reaction to her disappearance is distressed, in keeping with having strong feelings for her, I will need to find another way to make her pay. This will require a space of time where I can observe his reaction, which will in turn necessitate a secure location for Ms. Smoak's confinement. Because if he shows no distress, well, I'll be happy to show Ms. Smoak why crossing me was such a bad idea.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little background on where Moira's head is at the moment.

I've come to hate this house. When Robert first brought me here as his bride, I took it for granted we would live here. Raise our children here. Now, if it burned to the ground I think I'd feel more liberated than sad.

I came back here after my acquittal because then it seemed safer and easier to secure. My children were here and I wanted to be with them. And then Malcolm came back.

Now I'm thinking that I may move my base of operations closer to the city center while I'm campaigning. If I win, and possibly even if I don't, I may stay there. It will be more public, but that may be all to the good for my plans.

Before ... I'd imagined welcoming Oliver and his bride to this house. It seemed that Laurel Lance would be his eventual choice and I could have been happy with that, though there were any number of beautiful women he might still have chosen instead. Laurel at least seemed to be the one most likely to keep Oliver focused.

I wasn't concerned that he couldn't seem to settle on her just yet. I'd lived with Robert's many women and their shadows across my marriage. I couldn't wish that on anyone else. And to be fair, of the pair of them Laurel was likelier than Oliver to be able to run Queen Consolidated in the future.

I promised myself that whoever he brought home I would treat with kindness and respect. Robert's father was remote and busy building his company and his mother made it clear from day one that this was Her House and things would be done Her Way. My input was neither sought nor welcomed.

She backed off once Oliver was born, and I was able to pay her back a little by making it clear that he was My Son. It didn't hurt that Robert's father became more indulgent and more interested in the family as a whole once he had his grandson. She went almost instantly from matriarch to footnote once Oliver came home.

She died of a stroke less than a year later. I realized then that hard equals brittle more often than it equals strong. I learned to adapt and flex as a path to what I wanted and it has worked better for me than pushing straight through any opposition.

Oliver's reaction to the news of Thea's parentage was not unexpected. He had been so hurt when I'd told him about Robert's infidelity that I knew he would be angry with me over this. The thing that surprised me was his evident sense of betrayal.

The idealistic Ms. Smoak may have interfered with my timeline in terms of breaking this news, but I will not let her intrusion cost me my son. I will not allow his anger to be the last word between us. Eventually, I will be able to explain it to him.

And I will not let Malcolm cost me my daughter. At least Oliver agrees that Thea can never know about Malcolm. Her reaction when she thought we were having an affair, before the Undertaking, was not something I would willingly repeat and I know Oliver would not hurt her like that, whatever he may think of me at the moment.

Although I regret having to do this, I've put extra cameras around the house, inside and out. I suspect that the ones in Thea's room will show me more of her with Roy Harper than I'd care to see, but I'll manage. It's the ones I've put in Oliver's room that will be the ones I'll monitor most carefully once my plans for Ms. Smoak are ready to proceed.

I may also need to see to having some kinds of devices placed in Oliver's car and on his bike. He spends very little time here at home now that he is running QC. I expect that he speaks with Mr. Diggle now more than he does to me and the car would be the likeliest place for them to speak freely.

I placed them myself and I'll monitor them myself. They're likeliest of all the security feeds to contain salacious material and I won't risk someone trying to further damage my family with them. I'll keep the files on my laptop and destroy them once this is all done.

My associates tell me that they've begun monitoring Ms. Smoak's activities. I expect that it will take a week or two for them to establish an acceptable baseline. They assure me that they have a suitable location for her confinement, one where they can keep her concealed and which will make disposing of her quite simple when, if, it comes to that.

I want her to suffer for what she's done. I would prefer that it be prolonged and painful, but I understand that my associates are unhappy with being involved in that. There are people who would be willing to do what I want, but my associates do not find them trustworthy and that is the sticking point. I do not intend to leave myself open to blackmail in this.

Whatever it takes, whatever I must do, I will keep my family safe and whole.


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A slightly different perspective on the Queen household. From the inside.

Raisa was not surprised by Mr. Oliver's request to eat breakfast in his room from now on.

"I'm sorry if this is a burden for you, Raisa," he'd said when he asked her. But she'd been shaking her head as soon as the word sorry left his lips. She knew something had happened between him and his mother, something that had left a shadow across his heart, and she would have done anything he asked.

Raisa had watched Mrs. Queen's announcement of her campaign. One of the background shots had caught Mr. Oliver speaking with the pretty blonde, Ms. Smoak, who'd come out to speak with Mrs. Queen.

They'd been close to each other, physically and otherwise in Raisa's estimation, and the young woman had been clearly agitated about what she was saying. Raisa had seen how stiff Mr. Oliver had become before they'd parted and then watched him struggle to say the things he'd planned to say to introduce his mother. Mrs. Queen's expression before she took the podium had told Raisa all she'd needed to know about the woman.

"It's no trouble, Mr. Oliver!" she'd assured him putting her hand on his arm, and won herself one of his now-rare smiles. Mr. Diggle would continue to eat in the kitchen as before, leaving Mrs. Queen to dine in solitary spendor in the dining room when Miss Thea was with her young man.

Raisa was not surprised that there had been a blow-up between mother and son. Mr. Oliver was obviously keeping secrets, as he had been since his return. Mrs. Queen had been keeping secrets too, of course. It was her nature to show as little truth as possible to the world. But Raisa knew that Mr. Oliver's secrets were ones he kept to protect others, which she knew could never be said of his mother.

Moira Queen might say her primary goal was to keep her family safe, but Raisa knew better. She'd watched Moira from the day they'd returned from the honeymoon and she'd watched Mr. Robert drift away from a wife who'd loved the name more than the man. She'd kept it even while she was married to that nice Mr. Steele, hadn't she?

Miss Thea's birth had brought Mr. Robert back, even though Raisa knew he was aware she wasn't his. Mr. Oliver had been a little boy and hadn't been aware of a rift between his parents. He'd simply loved being a big brother and caring for his little sister from the moment she'd come home.

It was clear that Mr. Oliver was still caring for his sister. It had made her heart glad when Raisa had heard him taking his mother to task over how wild she was letting Miss Thea run. Only a few days back from the hell that had stolen her little mischief-maker and here he was being a man protecting his sister.

Raisa had watched her boy over the weeks and months that had followed. She knew how seldom he'd been home before dawn most nights, how little sleep he got no matter when he went to bed. She'd been glad to see a friendship grow between him and Mr. Diggle over the months before the disaster in the Glades.

She'd been terrified for both her babies that night. After Mrs. Queen's announcement, Miss Thea had brought her young man home for the first time. Mrs. Queen would not have approved, but Raisa had seen how much he cared for Miss Thea, and didn't care what Mrs. Queen might have thought.

Mr. Oliver didn't come home until late the next day and he'd looked like a ghost. Mr. Diggle had been hurt and Mr. Tommy was gone, but her boy had been most concerned about her and her family. He didn't seem to notice that she'd seen the way he winced when she'd hugged him, but then she'd seen the blood on his clothes and the bandages in the trash.

That was when things started to make sense. Looking back, especially now, Raisa was embarrassed at how long she had been blind. Mr. Oliver had been clever, but she knew what she was watching for now and it was suddenly easy to see what her boy had been hiding. She couldn't tell him how proud she was, but she would do anything that would make his life easier. If he wanted to eat alone, she would do whatever was necessary to see that it happened.


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins! And I still only claim the mistakes.

For the third time that week, Felicity thought she'd seen someone lurking in the QC garage. It wasn't that there weren't people going in and out all the time. It was a garage, after all. It was just that she'd heard what could only be described as scuttling footsteps but hadn't seen anyone they could belong to.

If you had the right to be in the garage, and weren't trying to hide something, you wouldn't be trying to move around without being seen. It only made sense. Of course, the fact that she worked for a company that had become the symbol of blame for what had happened in the Glades, as well as working with the Arrow to clean out the city's criminal element, meant that her suspicion button had a hair trigger.

She didn't want to upset Oliver just now by worrying him about something she was sure she was imagining, but another part of her was less sure it was her imagination. She compromised by deciding to mention it to Diggle when she got up to the office and maybe ask him to walk her out tonight. In either case, she decided it might be a good idea to check the security cameras down here just to be sure, one way or another.

Digg and Oliver were already there when she got to the office. Isabel's assistant had brought down a stack of papers to be signed last night and she had forgotten to tell Oliver in the fuss over last night's failed patrol. The fact that he was here already, and looking especially haunted, made her want to go back out to the Queen mansion and simply murder his mother. Preferrably with something heavy and blunt.

Oliver had a 'working lunch' with Water, Thea, Moira and her campaign staff. Diggle went with, of course. Felicity was grateful not to be expected to join in, as much because she wasn't sure how well she could maintain any semblance of cordiality with either Walter or Moira as because she didn't know how she could talk to Thea without having everything pour out of her mouth.

In any case, she was able to spend the bulk of the time they were gone looking at the garage cameras' footage. There were shadows where she expected there might be, but she couldn't get a clear image of any of them. She was able to see a few cars that might be the way these shadows had come in and out of the garage. Of course there was no guarantee that these shadow people hadn't simply come down the ramp from the street level since the cameras didn't cover the entrance or exit lanes.

As a precaution, Felicity decided to set a subroutine to monitor the garage cameras for the rest of the week. As an afterthought, she programmed the cameras that watched the street entrances to record what they saw for the rest of the week. Perhaps she would be able to catch a license plate she could check. It would be worth the effort if for no other reason than it might give Oliver something to hit.

Unsurprisingly, the 'working lunch' ran late enough that Oliver decided to go directly to Verdant and the lair. Felicity suspected he was feeling the need to pound on that truck tire while imagining it was his mother. It was an attitude she shared.

On a whim, she texted Digg to see if they wanted Big Belly. She suspected Oliver at least hadn't really eaten anything, any more than he'd slept the night before. Digg texted back "Genius!" Just before she left the office for the night, Felicity called their order in so it would be ready for her to just scoop and go.

Not wanting to be a horror movie statistic, Felicity was extra careful as she walked to her car. She saw no shadows this time, but she still felt like she was being watched by unfriendly eyes. She made a note to mention it to Digg because he was less likely than Oliver to go into hover mode, and really, Oliver had more than enough on his plate at the moment.

Sara flitted in and out of the lair like a ghost, passing Felicity and her burgers as she went to patrol. Felicity wanted to say something to her, but couldn't formulate what or how. And she didn't want to say anything with an audience.

She knew that Oliver and Sara had ... had a moment the night Oliver had confronted Moira. She'd made a habit of checking the security cameras every night when she came in, just to be sure they were still secure. Be a hell of a note to be spied on here in their own lair, or worse.

Felicity wasn't sure how she felt about the incident itself, but she'd seen the looks on both their faces before and after. It was clear that this hadn't been a joyful reunion but rather an attempt at mutual comfort. Neither of them seemed interested in repeating it and they both seemed to feel some sort of shame for the lapse.

There was no pressing issue requiring the Arrow's attention, so Oliver had decided to follow Sara's lead and run a patrol pattern. Diggle stayed behind, ready to back up either of their heroes if he was needed. Realizing that this was going to be her best chance to talk to him alone, Felicity muted the mike on her comm and turned so she could keep one eye on the screens as she spoke.

"John? You know how you guys are always saying I need to be more aware of my surroundings?"

Diggle looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Yeah."

"This week I've been feeling like there's somebody shadowing me in the garage."

"All week? And you're just mentioning it now? On Thursday?"

Felicity blushed. "With everything Oliver has going on right now, I didn't want to invoke the Hovering Arrow over nothing."

Diggle snorted and nodded. There was enough talk, at QC and elsewhere, about the relationship between the two of them without their boss making it worse by showing his territorial side. Still, if she was right about being followed, there might be a way to catch the bastards.

"Alright. So, we'll coordinate arrival and departure times better. That way, we'll both be there to walk you up and Oliver or I can walk you to your car at night."

"So, you text me when you're ready to leave and we'll go from there?"

"Yeah. Realize this might mean some earlier mornings for a while. I don't think he's sleeping much right now and so long as She's in the house, he can't wait to get out."

Felicity nodded and she could feel her eyes welling. It broke her heart to have had to tell him about his mother's lies. Moira had been right about it ripping his world apart and Felicity hated her for that.

Oliver was more resilient than his mother gave him credit for, though. This wasn't the first time it had happened, and given the Undertaking it wasn't even the first time Moira was to blame. But because it had cut away at the one remaining good thing about his family, his baby sister, rebuilding his world again this time was going to be harder and more painful.

She knew Diggle's thoughts were running along similar lines because he started to change into his workout gear. At least he'd be able to punch something, Felicity thought as she looked at her own hands and decided to try her own way of hitting back. They'd been wrong in thinking Moira Queen had no more secrets, so maybe it was time to be proactive and start digging.

Recognizing that the Tempest account had been used for her obstetrician, Felicity decided to start looking for other bank accounts Moira might have access to. With her campaign ramping up, there was the potential for donations to be diverted, so that had to be considered. And she might also be using her children's names for accounts set up without their knowledge.

Time would be the key sorting factor, Felicity decided. Any account opened within the last 6? months would be the most likely candidates for fraudulent creation. It might be worth sorting through all the accounts opened within that timeframe that were opened with a seven figure deposit, regardless what name they were created under.

It was easy to set up the searches to run down in the lair. To be on the safe side, Felicity had the results route to both her tablet and her QC desktop, so she would know any results as soon as possible. Moira was clever, but Felicity was betting she wasn't as clever as she thought she was, nor as careful as she ought to be.

Friday, Moira was having a fund-raising dinner at a club Walter belonged to downtown. Oliver was planning to dine with Thea, and probably Roy, at the same time at a new restaurant Thea was interested in close to the Glades. Sara would probably still patrol that evening, so Felicity planned to go on to Verdant after work, and maybe get some pointers on self-defense while she was at it.

She met Digg and Oliver as they'd arranged and they went up to the office together. Felicity was unaware of any lurking watchers, but then Oliver's presence had that effect on her a lot. Once they reached the office, she'd cocked an eye at Digg, who'd shaken his head, so that seemed to be that.

It wasn't until she was ready to leave, when she realized that Diggle and Oliver had left an hour ago. So much for team garage crossing. She couldn't really blame him since she was sure Oliver would have been happy to make sure she got to her car, got to Verdant, got home, etc. if she'd been willing to involve him.

When she got to the garage though, Felicity had to smile. Parked next to her little Mini was the Bentley, with Diggle sitting behind the wheel.

"I said I'd walk you to your car," he said, getting out as she approached. "Oliver and Thea are going to be a while longer at dinner, so I came by to see if you'd left yet."

"How was it going?"

"He hadn't killed Roy by the time I left."

"A winning endorsement!"

Felicity had just taken her keys out of her pocket when they were swarmed by 5 masked men. One of them grabbed Felicity by the arm and pulled her back away from the cars. Diggle roared and threw off the three men pulling him away.

The man holding Felicity shot Digg as she screamed. He pushed her off to one of the others and advanced on Digg as the elevator door closed behind them, startling them. Rather than risk getting caught, he came back to the group.

A van pulled up and they bundled her into it. As the doors closed, they pulled a bag over her head and shoulders, tying it around her waist so that her arms were pinned as well. The van drove back out to the street at exactly the speed limit and the only sounds inside were Felicity's sobs.


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver takes up the story. And again, only the mistakes are mine.

Dinner with Thea had been as close to torture as Oliver had been in some time. Roy hadn't felt all that comfortable chatting with his girlfriend while her disapproving older brother sat across the table and Oliver had been hard pressed to talk about anything that didn't want to morph into a discussion of family and all the things he couldn't tell them. Thea had been on a tear about some of the crazy things that had gone on at Verdant that week and their mother's campaign and the charity she was helping run another Gala for next month.

They were waiting for the check, at least Oliver and Roy were waiting while Thea went to primp, when a news bulletin came on the TV in the bar. It took Roy's muttered "Oh my God!" To get Oliver's attention. The picture on the screen when he turned to look was of a disheveled Moira Queen leaning on Walter's arm and the crawl underneath read something about a failed attempt to kidnap the candidate.

Acting on instinct, Oliver moved quickly to the hallway where the restrooms were located. A man in a ski mask and black sweats was muscling a struggling Thea back towards the kitchen exit with a hand over her mouth. As he saw Oliver coming towards him, he pushed Thea bodily at her brother, who slowed only long enough to hand her to Roy.

Oliver moved firmly through the milling kitchen staff, but the man was nowhere to be seen when he reached the alley. He came around the front of the restaurant as Roy was following Thea out onto the street. Gathering breath to blast them both, his tirade was ended before it began by Thea running into his arms sobbing.

"Don't do that to me!" She was trying to shout through her sobs as she buried her head in his shoulder. "What were you thinking, running after that man like that? You could have been killed!"

Wrapping her in his arms, Oliver said "Someone tried the same thing at our mother's campaign function just now. It was just on the news and I wanted to be sure nothing happened to you. I thought if I could catch the guy the police might find out what this was all about."

Oliver realized that the Bentley was nowhere in sight just as his phone started to ring. His stomach sank and he disengaged from Thea to answer it.

"Queen?"

"Detective Lance? Why are you calling me from Mr. Diggle's phone?"

"Your bodyguard's been shot, in the garage at Queen Consolidated. He's been taken to Starling General. But that's only half the story. He was parked next to Ms. Smoak's car. Her purse and her briefcase are here as well as the car, but it appears she's been taken."

"When?" Oliver demanded, aware how close he was to what Felicity called his Arrow voice, and he was using it with the one non-relative he should never use it on. And nothing mattered after Lance had said she was gone.

"Security camera footage puts it at about 30 minutes ago."

"My sister was also nearly abducted, just a few minutes ago," he told Lance. "And I'm assuming you're aware of the attack on my mother at her event."

"Yeah, I'd heard about your mom's thing. They did a pretty good job of coordinating the timing. The question is, why?"

Oliver could think of thirty reasons just standing here. None of them were ideas he could discuss with Lance. Certainly not with Thea in earshot.

He turned back to the other two. "I have to go. Diggle's been shot and I need to see him. Roy, please take Thea home. I'll call you later."

Thea made some protest, but Oliver was already moving away and didn't hear it. The bike was at Verdant and with luck, Sara might still be there too. He needed to find out what Digg knew and then he needed to shoot something.

He missed Sara, probably by only a few minutes. She'd left her comm behind, obviously no expecting anyone to be in the lair as back up. He texted her phone and left her a written note before heading out.

Diggle was still in the ER when Oliver got there. The doctor wanted him to stay overnight because of the amount of blood he'd lost. Oliver was inclined to agree, but he knew Diggle well enough to know it was a lost cause. He'd be gone as soon as he could stand.

"I brought the bike," Oliver told him, as the doctor went to get the release form. "I'll go by QC and get the Bentley if they're finished with it and swing back here. If they're not, you're on your own back to Verdant. Sara was gone when I got there, but she should be back by the time we get there. There's more than meets the eye here."

Oliver's tone was cold, but his eyes were dark with anger.

"I saw about the fund raiser," Digg said, fastening his shirt enough to close it over the sling. "Nobody hurt there, from what they said."

"Thea was attacked at the restaurant. The bastard didn't make a real play for her, pushed her into me so I couldn't catch him."

"You think this is Queen family problems or ... otherwise?"

Oliver shook his head as the doctor came back with the forms. He caught Digg's eye and motioned out with his head. After Diggle nodded, Oliver headed out.

Lance was still on the scene when Oliver arrived. "I thought you'd be with your family."

Oliver shrugged, surveying the scene. The only blood seemed to be Diggle's, which let him breathe a little easier. It was still a punch in the gut to see Felicity's bags strewn across the garage floor. He could keep from howling at the loss, but he couldn't stop his hands from fisting with the effort.

"Thea went home with Mr. Harper and my mother was with Walter," Oliver said, by way of an answer, forcing his hands to open again. "I'd like to take the Bentley and get Mr. Diggle home. I'd also like to secure Ms. Smoak's belongings. Some of them will be QC property and the rest she'll want when she returns."

Lance looked like he wanted to protest on principal, but he just shrugged. "The Bentley is fine. We've finished with it. Ms. Smoak's belongings will have to wait for her to claim them. There's a possibility that they can give us a hint as to what's behind this."

Oliver shrugged, burying his anger behind an icy facade. "Ms. Smoak is most protective of her electronics. If your hackers do anything permanent to them, you're the one who'll have to answer for it."

"I'll risk it." Lance's dry tone made Oliver's lips twitch in an almost-smile, but it was a fleeting response.

"There's been no ransom demand yet. That I'm aware of," Oliver said as he berthed the bike out of the way. "From what I saw of the man who attacked my sister, he was a little taller than I am and probably 40 pounds heavier, but most of it was a spare tire. He wore a plain black ski mask, black gloves and black sweats. I don't think he was alone because he was nowhere to be seen when I got outside, which would probably mean at least a driver as back up."

Lance made notes and nodded, "We'll check the traffic cameras and see what shows up." He paused and added, "It's still early yet. They may want you to sweat before they make their demands."

Oliver knew that Lance had something of a soft spot for Felicity since they'd taken on disarming Malcom Merlyn's device. It was a small comfort that, whatever he thought of Oliver, Lance would not stint on trying to find her, trying to save her. It galled him to have to rely on someone else to do it, but he'd take anything he could get if it brought her back.

They hadn't spoken about Sara, though he could tell Felicity was aware of their ... encounter. After her reaction to his lapse with Isabel, he hadn't known how to address this without hurting her. Clearly, the Universe wasn't going to wait for him to get his head out of his ass on this one.

In the days since then, and after finding out about Thea, he realized that the one thing that had come clear from all this was that Felicity was his anchor and he was not going to let her go. It was probably selfish of him, but he couldn't conceive of a world where he existed without her.

He was going to have to let her in and do what he could to keep her safe. Safer. In order to have the right to protect her, he was going to have to declare himself to her and the whole world. It would paint a target on her, but clearly it was already there for some.

The decision brought a measure of calm that helped him to keep going. So long as he refused to allow the idea of losing her to set its claws in him, he'd be able to function. That and knowing that he would kill anyone who harmed her.

He collected Diggle and they went on to the lair.

"She asked me last night to walk her to and from her car." Digg said, looking out the window. "She said she'd had the feeling she was being watched and she'd seen what she called shadows skulking around. I know she checked the security footage for the times she'd been in the garage, but she couldn't see anyone."

Oliver said nothing. What could he say? Clearly she'd been right and there had been someone watching her, waiting for her.

"She said didn't want to add another burden to what you were already dealing with."

Oliver nodded, clenching his teeth. There would be time to yell at her after they got her back, because he was going to have to use small words in his Loud Voice to make sure she understood exactly where she stood in relation to the rest of the Universe in terms of importance. As in, first. In front of everything else.

"That's why she muted the comm last night. To talk to you about this."

"Yeah. Should have figured you'd notice."

Oliver nodded again as they turned into Verdant's lot. It was still early, so the crowd wasn't at its usual peak capacity. It seemed like it should have been much later, but it had barely been an hour since the news bulletin had set the chain of events in motion.

They were coming down the stairs when the door from the alley opened behind them and Sara came in.

"I didn't see your text until just a moment ago," she told Oliver.

"I figured you were ... involved," Oliver replied, stripping off his jacket and pulling off his tie.

"What happened? Do we know?"

Digg opened his mouth, but Oliver raised his hand. "There's a lot we don't know, but the main thing is this: Felicity was not the only one attacked tonight. A group of men attacked my mother at her campaign rally and a man tried to take Thea from the restaurant where we were having dinner. I saw the report of the campaign attack on the bar TV just before I went to look for Thea and I got the call from Detective Lance about Digg being shot just after I lost the guy."

"That indicates some pretty close coordination." Sara cocked her head as she looked at Oliver. "You're thinking it's a professional thing."

"Maybe," Oliver said, making a breaking motion with his hands. "The guys who attacked my mother were easily driven off, by what I saw. And they were only armed with a stun gun, not live ammunition. The guy who was wrestling Thea out of the restaurant didn't even have that much and when I showed up he as much as threw her at me before running out."

"So what you're saying," Diggle began.

"Is that the only one that was serious, the one that had to succeed, was with Felicity."

"But why?" Sara asked. "Is it Arrow business or QC business?"

"That's the question I keep coming back to." Oliver raked his hands through his hair and looked over at Diggle. "We need intel. Lance has Felicity's tablet and they'll probably take her desktop from QC. Which leaves us with these." He gestured at the array on her desk.

"Do you really want to risk the wrath of your IT girl for messing with her babies?" Sara joked.

Oliver shrugged. "She can yell all she wants after we find her. I can't do the same kind of magic she can, but I can operate a computer. Digg, touch base with Lyla, please, and see if she's aware of anything."

"On it."

"And then lie down before you fall down." Diggle shot Oliver a look but didn't argue.

"I could ask my dad about what they find..." Sara offered.

"Anything he can give us will help, but I don't know if it'll be in time."

"We'll find her, Ollie," Sara said, softly.

Oliver nodded and started working on the computers. He wouldn't allow any other outcome.


	6. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moira's thoughts on the evening's events.

Things are progressing. My associates pulled off the coordinated attacks as I requested. It worked out perfectly in that Oliver was with Thea when they attacked her. I'm not sure why Mr. Diggle was with Ms. Smoak when she was taken, but he appears not to have been seriously injured since he checked himself out of the Hospital.

I've spoken with Thea, who was understandably upset by the way Oliver left her. Her Roy took her home, by which I assume she meant his home since she's not here at the mansion. I wish she had found a more worthy object for her affections but I can hardly throw stones, can I?

Walter has been kind enough to stay the night, though he'll stay in one of the guest rooms. I wish we could bridge the unhappy circumstances of our separation, but one thing at a time. I won't make the same mistake twice.

I'm concerned about Oliver's continued absence. I want to see him, to judge for myself how he's taking this development. I could wish he had called to see how I was, but from what Thea said the TV reports had said I was fine.

My associates have told me that they were able to find a location in the Glades to conceal Ms. Smoak. There's some justice there, since if I hadn't tried to intervene, I wouldn't have been tried for murder and my lapse with Malcolm would have stayed my secret. Now the denizens of that wretched place will hide my involvement with her disappearance.

There are to be 4 men, all masked, guarding her at all times. I want to ensure she has no chance to escape until I'm satisfied that I have to release her. I've told them they are not to harm her physically unless she incites it by trying to escape, and even then nothing drastic.

This will be an expensive proposition, but my son is worth it. I want him to have a good life, to have a family and children. And I want to be part of it.

Until Oliver told me how his father died, I'd had no idea that Robert had such nobility in him anymore. I'd known he was fond of the children, but I'd never suspected he would sacrifice himself for either of them. I thought that I was the only one of us who was willing to put my family before everything else.

I will do anything to protect my children. I know that Oliver will understand that. He must.


	7. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara's perspective on things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I wrote this, the show still had Lance on patrol but I needed him as a Detective so he got an early promotion.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: Only the mistakes are mine!

I told Dad that I was trying to help find Felicity and he said I could look at the tablet once they finish processing it. So probably tomorrow. I know they've only just reinstated him, so I don't want him to do anything to get busted again.

Ollie is quietly tearing his hair out. I don't know what happened between him and his mom, but it must have been epic for him not to have gone home at all last night. Even Diggle is more concerned about Thea than Moira.

If I'd had any question about where his heart is, Ollie's reaction to this would have been enough. It isn't just whatever went down with Moira that's keeping him here. It's that he's too deeply immersed in his Arrow persona to show his face to anyone who doesn't already know that secret, 'cause he'd be busted. One look in the eye would be all it would take.

On the one hand, I'm happy for him. He's a good man and he deserves to be loved by someone he doesn't have to hide most of his self from. He's suffered enough for what's happened to him.

It's the other half of that equation that scares me. Any shrink worth his salt would look at either of us and recognize that we're more than a little psychotic. We're both trying to get better, but neither of us is all the way there.

And it's kind of scary because we probably won't get there, if 'there' means that we integrate all of our private and public personas and not have to worry about other psychos hurting or killing people we love. I don't especially want to go back to being the kind of person who won't do what I uniquely can to defend the helpless and the innocent from predators like me, who have fewer morals and no restraint. I suspect Ollie sees it the same way.

I've noticed that it's just those of us who knew him from before that still call him Ollie. Digg and Felicity call him Oliver. I think they're right. He's a different person because of the island. If the Gambit had never sunk, he'd still be a party boy and I'd be the starstruck little sister of his ex-girlfriend.

He thinks he's damaged, and he's right if you take society's view. But he thinks that being damaged makes him unworthy of any good thing that might come his way. He knows that he has a capacity for violence that very few people can comprehend and while he can restrain it for the most part, the fact of its existence scares the very decent core of him, badly. There's still that little boy in there that thinks that 'good' people don't do 'bad' things.

My perspective is a little different, but mostly because I've been someone who trained specifically to kill. My personal body count is ... respectable. We're probably about even, in terms of numbers. The difference is in the why, not the who or how many.

I killed because I was told to. It was my job and if the earthquake hadn't happened, I probably would still be doing it. But when I got here, the Arrow was here and he was making a difference with his skills. And I realized I could be something other than death's harbinger.

His body count happened because he was trying to fix something he hadn't broken. He'd benefited from that brokenness, but not deliberately or consciously, both of which facts he figures make it even more his fight. And now, because his mother's stupidity tanked his father's company, he's trying to save it in his spare time. It's his job to pick up after his family. Even an octopus couldn't keep up this juggling act, but every time something slips past him, he feels as though the miss is his fault because he's not good enough.

This thing with Felicity is a case in point. He feels he's failed her because she didn't want to worry him over her fears. Now Diggle's been wounded and she's missing.

If I were one of the people who took his angel, I'd be very afraid right now. He thinks he's damaged; well you 'damage' steel when you forge it into a sword. In either case, they're both weapons that can kill.

He's shown mercy to some of the bad guys he's faced recently. It's an admirable form of restraint. But when he finds Felicity, I don't think mercy will be anywhere near.


	8. Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diggle's take on things.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: Only the mistakes are mine!

Two things are standing out right now. One, Oliver is better at computers than either he or Felicity give him credit for. And two, he's holding it together a lot better than I'd feared he would.

That's the sum total of what's gone right since Friday night's clusterf... . Oliver's seen a lot of bad things, most of which he won't talk about. I don't blame him, 'cause he's not the only one with a closet full of nightmares.

The problem is that both of us know all the nasty stuff people can get up to when they don't fear consequences. If his horror show is anything like mine, the assholes who took Felicity are gonna look like pincushions when he finds them. And I'll stand back and applaud.

When I signed onto this circus, it was just me and him. I was afraid that the Hood would eat Oliver alive from the inside out, the way I'd seen other kids eaten by the mission in the army. I told Felicity that there were casualties in every war. I didn't want him to be the one I could have saved but didn't. Still don't.

He's got a ugly case of PTSD and the way we spend our nights probably doesn't help it. And neither does the fact that there really are people out to get him. And the list keeps growing. But she can get him to smile, really smile, and that gives me hope for him.

It also means we have to get her back in one piece. He hasn't said anything about my keeping quiet about her fears. I kinda expected to get an earful on the way back from the hospital, but he never said a word.

It's like he's afraid that if he yells at me he won't stop. He wants to scream and beat on things and he knows he can't yet. All he can do is hunt.

He's locked down into Arrow mode right now and it's helping his focus. But that's only gonna work short-term. The pressure he's putting on himself is brutal and even he can't hold up under it forever.

And then there's Thea. He's going to need to pull the Arrow in enough to go see her. And he's going to have to pull out some kind of story to explain where he's been for almost 24 hours. Oliver can count on Roy to keep her safe, but only if he can get her to stay with Roy, not come looking for him.

And however much he hates his mother right now, he needs to put in an appearance at the house. If only to allay Walter's questions. He needs to stay on good terms with Walter if he's ever going to pull QC out of the pit.

But, hey, no pressure, right?


	9. Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver's turn again.

Oliver was hitting walls he knew Felicity would have laughed at. He found that she had been running a search for bank accounts that had him baffled. Because his eyes were crossing, he printed it out.

As he turned to the printer, Digg came up carrying his suit jacket and tie. Oliver nodded.

It was time to try something else. Oliver texted Sara as Digg drove him out to the mansion, letting her know where they'd gone, in case ... anything turned up. She texted back an ok.

Unable to put it off for longer, Oliver called Thea.

"Ollie! Where have you been? What happened? What's going on?"

"Hey, Speedy. I'm sorry I was out of touch. How are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but Mom's a nervous wreck! Where have you been all this time? Why didn't you call her? Or me? We had no idea where you were! For all we knew you could have been lying in a ditch with an arrow thru your heart!"

"An arrow? Seriously, Speedy?"

"Well, you left me alone to imagine the worst! What else could I do?"

"First of all, I left you with Roy, which is where I assumed you'd still be. Right?"

"Roy isn't my brother!"

"We won't go there."

"You know what I mean, Ollie! I lost you once. Lost you for five years! I don't have a lot of faith left where your safety is concerned, okay? I tend to go from zero to crazy right off!"

Oliver sighed. "I'm truly sorry to have worried you, Thea. The call I got was from Detective Lance telling me that Digg had been shot and that me secr... my Executive Assistant had been kidnapped out of the QC garage. I've been trying to find any clue that could help find her, so I've been ... distracted."

"Oh, wow! Ollie, I'm so sorry I yelled! Is there anything I can do? Anyway I can help?"

"The best thing you can do is stay safe. That means staying right where you are, for the moment. If you have to leave, do not go without Roy. I'm trusting both of you, Speedy. Please."

Thea huffed. "So long as you promise to keep me informed. Even if you know nothing more, I want updates or I'm going to hunt you down. Am I clear?"

"Crystal. I love you, Thea."

"I love you, too, Ollie!"

"She okay?" Digg asked, after a moment.

"Yeah. I forget, sometimes, that the island wasn't just hard on me."

"I hear the guilt trip express leaving on track one."

Oliver barked a sharp laugh. "Yeah, kinda. What's the line? Family knows how to push your buttons 'cause they installed them?"

"Oh, yeah."

The mansion appeared ahead. Oliver sighed and squared his shoulders like he was going into battle. Digg wanted to turn the car around and go find a hotel or something, anything but this. He knew Oliver needed to be seen to be home, even if this was never going to be home while Moira Queen lived there. All he could realistically hope was that the kid could get a couple hours sleep in between nightmares.

"I'll put the car away and meet you in the kitchen?"

"Yeah. If I'm not there in 15, give it up. I'll probably be trapped for a while."

Walter and his mother came out of the living room as he came in. Oliver locked his muscles to keep from backing away from his mother when she came running up. She stopped short of throwing her arms around him, but he could see Walter's puzzlement.

"I'm sorry!" He began, throwing up his hands as if in surrender. "I've already had Thea give me what for over not touching base sooner. My only defense is that Mr. Diggle was injured last night in the kidnapping of Ms. Smoak. I've been doing what I can to help find her."

"Felicity's been kidnapped? When did this happen?" Walter was every bit as concerned as Oliver had hoped. He'd gambled on their mutual fondness for her to make it easier to explain his absence.

"Based on what the police have said so far, it appears to have happened at or just before the attack at your rally." Oliver said, noticing that his mother was also watching Walter with an odd expression. But why would she be jealous of Felicity? Walter had kept the secrets that Felicity hadn't. Weird.

"The guy who attacked Thea at the restaurant seemed pretty easily scared off, so I don't know what this is all about. Hopefully we'll be able to find Felicity, and the people who took her, soon. And then we can get some answers." Oliver had spoken to Walter, but his mother's anger was a strange reaction. Was she sorry she wasn't the only victim? Did she really want to be the center of attention like that?

"Well, I'm glad you're home safe and sound now, Oliver." Walter held out his hand and they shook. "I'll see you tomorrow, Moira? The forum is at 10 am, so I'll pick you up at 9?"

"That would be lovely, Walter. I'll appreciate the escort."

Yes, thought Oliver, and I'll be grateful not to have to go.

Once the door shut behind Walter, Oliver moved towards the kitchen.

"Weren't you the least bit concerned about me last night?" Moira demanded, stepping in front of her son.

Who reached for his fraying control with both hands. "The news report showed you unharmed and in Walter's arms. I would have been superfluous."

"Your absence was noticed."

"If I was every place when I was supposed to be I'd have to be triplets." Oliver stepped around her. "I'm going to get something to eat and then I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"Your tone is not appreciated."

Oliver turned and came back towards her, getting right up in her personal space. He was aware of how close to the surface the Arrow was, but he was finding it hard to care. When he spoke, his voice was arctic. "Your attitude is unacceptable. I agreed to continue to support you publicly for the duration of your campaign. But you don't get to call me on my tone, or anything else. You have lied to me with every breath of your body from the time I was 9. Do. Not. Push. Me."

He left her there gaping in his wake. By the time he reached the kitchen Oliver felt a little more under control. This, at least, was still the haven it had always been. Diggle was working his way through a huge sandwich. Raisa put a second one on the counter along with a bottle of beer and smiled sadly at him.

"Mr. Diggle has been telling me about your day," she said, patting his hand. "I have faith in you. You will find her."

It was a good thing she didn't seem to expect a response from him because Oliver wasn't sure he could have formed one if his life depended on it. He looked over at Digg, who shrugged.

"What did I miss?"

"Dunno, man. I missed it, too."

Oliver sat thinking as he worked his way through his own sandwich. He thought about the beer, but he knew that his nightmares and alcohol didn't mix. Putting the plate in the sink, he sighed.

"I'm going to try sleeping." He looked at the clock on the wall and squinted. "Can you be ready to roll by 7?"

Digg shrugged. "Sure. Let me know when you're ready, 'cause if you can sleep in I'm not gonna disturb you."

"Yeah." Like that's gonna happen now. He texted Thea, so she could try sleeping, too.

Oliver climbed the stairs to his room, his heart heavier than it had ever been. He couldn't remember feeling this helpless since seeing Sara slide out of the Gambit as she sank; even Tommy's death hadn't hit him like this. Somewhere in this city, Felicity was waiting for him, for them, to find her and he would die rather than fail her.

He stripped and showered, letting the water pour over his head for several minutes. Alone for the first time in days, his control evaporated and all his worst fears overwhelmed him. His knees gave way as sobs wracked him.

By it's very nature, a storm so intense couldn't last forever. The water had been running cold for several minutes before Oliver was steady enough to stand up again. His head aching, his throat raw, one look in the mirror told him he looked as bad as he felt.

He elected to wear just boxers to bed. A tee would feel like strangulation right now and he wanted to be that much closer to dressed if he needed to move. For a moment, Oliver looked at the bed and considered just peeling off the quilt and curl up in the window seat.

For the second time that evening, he sank to his knees. He'd never been one for prayer, even as a child it had never been part of his life. Pretty much everything he'd ever wanted had been his without any effort at all.

After the island, after his father and Shado and Slade and Sara and all the other lives that had crumbled at his touch, he was pretty sure that if there was a God, Oliver Queen would not be a voice he would heed. But this was about Felicity and she was ... good.

"I know I'm not worthy. I know I don't deserve ... anything. But this is Felicity." His voice cracked, but for some reason it felt important that he say this out loud. "I need her to be safe." His hands fisted as tears threatened. "I need her here. I will do anything, pay anything, to keep her safe." In little more than a whisper, he said the words he'd never had the courage to say to her face. "I love her more than life. I can't live without her."

After he got himself back under control, Oliver shut off the light and crawled into bed. He expected to spend most of the night staring into the darkness while his mind showed him all the horrors he feared she was enduring. Instead, his exhausted mind and body shut him down within minutes.

Full daylight woke him the next morning. He heard voices from outside, below his window. Then car doors opening and closing, before the car drove off. Walter collecting his mother for her rally.

Oliver couldn't understand how a full night's sleep could leave him feeling more drained than non-stop nightmares. He swung his feet over the side of the bed and checked his phone. Six texts from Thea, every half hour since 6:30. He texted her back, then texted Diggle.

As soon as he was dressed he headed down to the kitchen. And met Raisa and Diggle coming up the stairs. At their matching grim looks, his heart sank.

Diggle shook his head. "It's not that, man, but you need to hear this."

Raisa took his hands in hers. "I know this has been very hard, but there is something you must see. I will point to a book on the shelf, but this is not what you are looking for. You must not look at it directly. You understand?"

Oliver nodded, his chest tightening. He followed Raisa back into his room. She pointed at a random book on the top shelf of the bookcase across from his bed.

"There, Mr. Oliver. Is that the book you were asking about?"

He looked up at the shelf, grateful for her warning or he would have ripped the camera out of the wall. Instead, he smiled at Raisa and lifted the book down.

"Thanks, Raisa. I knew I'd seen it, but I couldn't remember where." Putting a hand in the small of her back, he led her back out of the room. They were out of sight of that camera, but he was no longer sure it was alone.

He swept the hallway with a new eye and was relieved not to see any telltale signs of other cameras. He leaned forward and kissed Raisa's cheek. "Thank you for keeping watch for me, Raisa."

She looked even sadder and said, "I think ... it may have been your mother. I saw her come out of your room and Miss Thea's the day after she announced she was running for mayor." She reached out and put a hand on his arm adding, "She was on her computer when Mr. Walter came for her just now. She did not look happy to be interrupted at first."

"Did she shut it down?" Oliver asked. Raisa shook her head. She and Diggle followed him as Oliver ran up the stairs to his mother's room. The screen was black until he wiggled the mouse and on the screen came the camera's eye view of his prayer from the night before.


	10. Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity takes up the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This gives us an idea of what's been happening with our IT Girl as she deals with the situation.
> 
> Disclaimer: I only own the mistakes.

When the men had appeared, Felicity froze. When they shot Digg, she had screamed. Then they'd bagged her like a package and shoved/threw her into their van and drove off.

Once they were out of the garage, one of the men leaned down next to her ear and spoke. "You will be quiet. You will not fuss, you will not try to escape, you will not be difficult in any way. If you make trouble or attract attention I will hit you and I will hit you hard. If you keep doing it, I will keep hitting you. If you make me mad enough, you will find yourself on your back and you will get to know all of us very well. Do not try me, because I'll get paid either way."

Felicity shivered as she felt the man move away. The van was silent and drove away at a sedate pace through the streets. When the streets became bumpy and rutted, she knew they were heading into the Glades.

That was both good and bad news. She knew that as soon as Oliver heard about the attack, he would be looking for her. She knew he would be spending a lot of his time in and around the lair, which meant that he would be nearby.

She realized that he didn't know about her feeling of being watched in the garage and so he might not look at the footage from the days before the attack, where he might be able to see what she hadn't. But if Digg was ... badly hurt, or God forbid, dead. He wouldn't know to try.

She also realized that he might not understand, or even be able to retrieve, her bank account search. If she had to bet, Felicity was sure Moira was behind this and there would be a money trail to be followed. But was anyone going to be able to follow it without her?

The biggest question was, did they realize that she still had her phone? The men hadn't touched her beyond the giant sack they'd put over her and her phone was in her skirt pocket. Under her coat.

The van turned sharply and over a series of bumps and her jaw dropped. She went over those bumps every night as she parked her car in Verdant's parking lot. They weren't taking her here, were they?

"We're changing cars here," the man said as he opened the door. "You keep your mouth shut and you'll come out of this with your whole skin."

They were at the darker end of the lot and no one seemed to notice the girl with the bag over her body going from one vehicle to another. There were only 3 men now and they put Felicity in the back seat, pushing her down into the well of the far seat, keeping her below the window level. The whole thing took only moments and her heart sank as they drove off again.

But now, Felicity was counting. Bumps and turns and directions so that she could find her way back home. Back to Oliver.

The car stopped and the man next to her got out of the car and opened what sounded like an industrial garage door. The car moved forward and she heard the door squeal as it came down behind them. The door beside her opened and a hand pulled her out of the car.  
She stumbled across the floor as the man pulled her away from the car. He pulled her up a set of stairs and then down a short hallway. Then he held her arm as he unlocked the door and pushed her in.

"You can take off the bag, but not until I lock the door again. There's a bucket in the corner if you need it. There's a bottle of water on the table and a peanut butter sandwich. That's all you're going to get for today, so take it slow."

"I'm allergic to ..."

"I don't care. If you don't want to eat it, don't. We'll knock before we come in and you're gonna put that bag over your head again until we leave. So long as you don't see us, you get to leave when she says it's time. Otherwise ... Understand."

"Yes." Felicity could barely speak above a whisper, but presumably he wasn't expecting any other response. He simply pivoted on his heel and walked back to the door and locked it behind him.

She waited what seemed like a long time before she lifted the bag off her head. She'd never been claustrophobic before the Undertaking but now, she needed to take long deep breaths to slow her heart. There was a chair and a table and the promised bucket in the room.

Felicity sank shakily into the chair and looked carefully around. There was a camera in the corner above the bucket, which she had to assume would see everything she did except when she had to pee. Which meant that there was almost no place she could use her phone without alerting her captors that she still had it.

She knew the battery was low, which meant she would need to be very careful about draining it. The 'locate me' function she'd installed on all their phones sucked up power like a vampire, but if she was careful and didn't waste it, the power would probably last until the next morning. Once she sent one last text, she would turn off everything else and hope the signal could get out. There were a lot fewer cell towers in the Glades now and she didn't think they were close enough to the boosters she'd installed at Verdant during the renovation.

Going to the bucket, she slipped the phone out go her pocket and she typed: 'O. Van verd. 5 to 3 in car. SW to garage 2 floors.' She pressed send and slipped the phone back into her skirt before realizing that if they looked, there would be nothing there. Blushing furiously, she adjusted her clothing and used the bucket before returning to the chair. To wait.

And think. These men were professionals, which puzzled her. She wouldn't have thought Moira had connections like that, but given how little they actually knew about what she did with and for Malcolm, that might have been shortsighted.

Thinking about Moira kept her from worrying about Digg. Her mind wouldn't let her consider that he might be ... gone. Felicity didn't know what she'd do if her reticence around Oliver had put Diggle in fatal danger.

And as much as she didn't want to think about Oliver, Felicity couldn't seem to stop. Already reeling from his mother's betrayal, this attack had to have him close to the edge. She feared what another burden like this would do to him and she wanted to cry more than she had since the Undertaking.

She knew that Oliver would look for her. He would never surrender, because that's what he was made of and she loved him for it. She just had to stay safe and alive so she could tell him about it.

They only knocked once in the next 12 hours. When she took the bag off her head again, Felicity saw another sandwich and a second bottle of water. The sandwich was just a cheese slice on bread. It could have been drier, but it wasn't peanut butter, so she carefully ate one half.

She'd fallen asleep on the table when the door into her cell burst open. A man with a bow in one hand and a quiver strapped to his back strode into the room and seized her arm, pulling her out behind him. The problem was, the man was wearing black not green.

Felicity tried to escape him, pulling back as they moved to the stairs. She surprised him, so she almost got away. He turned, grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back to the steps and down to the waiting truck.

There were three bodies on the floor between the stairs and the car. All of them had black arrows in them. A pair of black clad men were going through the car and another was in what looked like an office further back in the building.

The man holding her hair turned to the trio and said: "He'll come here for her. Wait for him and give him my message."

The men nodded and moved to take secure positions. The man turned to Felicity and smiled his crazy smile. "We haven't been introduced, Ms. Smoak, but I'm Malcolm Merlyn. I have some unfinished business with Oliver. You're going to be a help, there."


	11. Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to Oliver and the crew. And Thea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is long because there's a lot of ground to cover. Hang on to your hats.
> 
> Disclaimer: Only the mistakes are mine.

Diggle looked at Oliver and then glanced at the picture on the screen. He'd seen flashes of that intensity of feeling cross Oliver's face, but they'd been fleeting and quickly shuttered. To find that his bitch of a mother had been staring at that raw, open look was a violation Diggle couldn't forgive. From the blue ice in his gaze, Oliver felt the same.

Drawing a deep breath, Oliver pulled the Arrow back under. Raisa reached over and embraced him. After a moment, Oliver returned the hug, then released her.

"Are you going to have a pointed conversation with her about this?" Digg asked.

Oliver shook his head. "To what end? All she's done is put a camera in a room in her house."

Digg opened his mouth to protest.

Oliver shook his head again. "I don't want to jog her elbow until I have more concrete info to go with it. At this point, all she'd need to do is kill Felicity and leave her body in the Glades and she'd expect that to be the end of it."

The bleak tone of his voice sent a chill down Digg's spine. "Her end," he said, looking back at the frozen image on the screen.

"Yes." Oliver looked at Digg and nodded.

Raisa stepped up and laid a hand on Oliver's arm. "She is not so evil as that, Mr. Oliver. I know she has behaved badly, but she would not do that to you."

Oliver patted Raisa's hand and kissed her forehead. "I wish I could be as sure. You remember that I was abducted, the Hood's first known appearance, and they never identified who was behind that."

Digg frowned.

"The day before she hired you," Oliver explained. "Ostensibly, why you were necessary."

Digg snorted. "For all the good I did. Keeping track of you was ... a challenge."

"At least you were close to up to the challenge," Oliver said, shaking his head. "The guy they sent after was just clueless."

"Was the restaurant the first time you'd ditched him?" Digg remembered the guy standing next to the table, knowing Oliver was a block away already.

"Second." Oliver said, shaking his head, as he walked towards the door, "Asked him to bring the car around, so I could go into town. He didn't want to leave me, saying that he'd heard I was difficult, but I pointed out the distance and, y'know how else was I going if he wasn't driving."

"Blew past him on your bike?" Diggle had seen Oliver on that bike often enough to know how fast he could go with it.

"Yeah." Oliver shook his head again. "Thank God he took the hint. I'd have had to hurt him if he'd stuck around."

"If he hadn't gotten you killed."

Oliver shrugged. "The thing about the kidnapping was, the decision to go was spur of the moment from the night before. If it had been Malcolm, why take both of us? He already knew what Tommy knew." Oliver shook his head. "It had to be someone at the table that night."

"You think your mother was responsible?"

"At first, I'd kind of figured it was Walter."

"Mr. Walter was never involved in her plans." Raisa spoke firmly, as they walked down the stairs.

"I figured that when Malcolm kidnapped him." Oliver agreed as they reached the landing.

Raisa put her hand over Oliver's heart. "She does not see you. Either of you children." Digg looked over her head at Oliver, who watched her carefully. "Be discrete with how much of your heart you show her. She is angry with you now, and in anger she may do things you will both regret when heads are cooler."

Oliver cocked his head at her and smiled. "She's passed that point already." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "You see me more clearly than most."

"You are a good man, but you are still careless with things you should not be. Like large bloody bandages."

Diggle shook his head and Oliver felt an uncomfortable flush creep up his face. "It's a good thing you're on my side, Raisa." She smiled, patted his chest and moved off down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes. You need to eat."

Digg waited until Raisa was gone before turning to Oliver. "So, what do we do now?"

"I want to look at the security footage from the garage, going back to when Felicity first reported feeling watched. There might be more than one vehicle we can check on, or ask Lance to check. I'm hoping Sara can get a look at Felicity's tablet and her phone. There may be apps she has that can do some of what she does on the computers in the lair or her office."

As he stood up, Oliver's phone rang.

"What's up, Sara?"

"Dad said they didn't find her phone."

"He's sure?"

"They searched the entire area, under every car. They also searched her desk, even the washrooms on your floor. It's not there Ollie!"

"Thank you! And thank your dad for me. Is there a chance I can look at her tablet?"

"Probably this afternoon. I'll bring it by Verdant as soon as I can."

"Again, thank you both."

"Anything to get her back safe."

"What?!" Diggle demanded.

"They didn't find her phone. Anywhere in the building." Oliver closed the phone app and opened Felicity's tracker app. "I'm not picking up anything here, but if she's in the Glades, she might not have the signal strength, or the battery, to reach here."

"I think breakfast is going to need to be portable."

Raisa easily adapted breakfast into sandwiches. Oliver met Digg at the door and they drove off. Oliver ate his sandwich in silence, trying not to wish he could have taken the bike instead.

"You should touch base with Thea before we go over to the club."

"Yeah, before she climbs down my throat for not keeping her up to date."

"You gonna tell her?"

"The Vertigo car accident happened because she thought she saw something between Malcolm and our mother, that they were having an affair while Walter was missing." Oliver glanced down at his phone. "I'm ... afraid of what would happen if she found out she owes her existence to an earlier liaison between them. She already had a hard time with what our mother was party to in the Glades; how much worse would it be to find out her real father was the mastermind behind the plot?"

"I think you don't give her enough credit." Digg said, after a moment. "What if she knew Malcolm was your father; wouldn't you want to know?"

"Remember that there's the added twist with the fact that Malcolm knows 'how we spend our nights'. If I tell her the one thing, do I go on and tell her the rest? Because that will also include Roy and his incomplete marble collection."

"What happened to 'doing complicated on a curve'?"

Oliver rubbed his eyes. "This isn't a curve, it's a corkscrew."

"The other side of the coin is, when Malcolm tells her, how do you defend keeping it from her yourself?"

"That's the nightmare I've been thinking about since Felicity told me."

"She deserves the same truth Felicity gave you, Oliver."

Oliver sighed. "And how many seconds do you think it will take from the time I tell her I'm the Arrow for her demand to join me? Especially since I'd have to tell her about Roy?"

Digg winced.

"That's the real nightmare." Oliver said, looking down at his phone again. "Dripping water could take relentless lessons from my sister. And, short of chaining her to her bed, how do I keep her from going out with Roy and Sin if I keep saying she can't come with us? Do I put an arrow in her leg the way I did Roy? I mean, look how well that turned out."

"So, it's a 'best of bad options' kind of thing," Diggle countered. "She's smart and driven and she could be an asset to the team if you maintain control of the situation."

"God knows, if our ages were reversed, she'd be running QC instead of me."

"Face it, Oliver. Whether it's Roy, the Queen family name or Malcolm, she's already got a target painted on her. Making her part of the team on your terms could be the safest way forward for her."

"Let's just find Felicity first. So I can keep my nightmares separate."

They pulled up outside Roy's house and Thea bolted out as Oliver stepped out of the car. Digg figured it was only his Arrow reflexes kept Oliver upright when she hit. Their eyes met over her head and Oliver nodded. The look on his face was infinitely sad and Diggle knew Oliver had decided he had to be the one to tell her.

"I've been going crazy!" Thea said, punching her brother in the chest. "What the hell is going on!"

"I'm sorry, Speedy. I don't know what's going on. We still don't know where Felicity is or why she was taken let alone who did it. It happened too near to the time you were attacked and those men attacked the campaign rally to be coincidence."

Thea burrowed her head into his shoulder. "I was so scared," she whispered.

Oliver bent his head and whispered back, "News flash, Speedy, so was I." His arms tightened around her.

Roy stood on the steps, watching them and watching the street beyond. They exchanged nods as Oliver turned and walked Thea back to the house.

Oliver opened his mouth to speak when his phone pinged indicating an incoming text. From Felicity's phone. "O. Van verd. 5 to 3 in car. SW to garage 2 floors."

He heard Thea's voice over the roaring in his ears but it took Diggle's hand on his shoulder to bring him back to the present. Digg took the phone out of his hand and read it. "We need to look at the cameras at Verdant," Diggle said.

He'd been looking at Roy, but Thea answered. "I'll get my keys." Digg and Roy both looked at Oliver. Who nodded.

Digg and Roy sat up front while Oliver sat with Thea in the back. He took her hand and tried to formulate a way to begin telling her the secrets he'd been keeping.

"Ollie, what's wrong? Talk to me?"

They were turning into Verdant's parking lot and Oliver realized he'd been staring into space. "You've asked me about the island, and there are a lot of things about that, and what's happened since, that I need to tell you about, but I need to do this first. I need to find Felicity and then you and I need to have a long talk."

Thea frowned at him, but nodded. "Okay."

She gave Roy her keys as he and Oliver rushed to the door. Diggle waited at the car for her to move and she noticed him scanning the area. There was a lot of subtext going on between Oliver and his 'driver' that she hadn't noticed before and now it seemed to include Roy.

But not her, or at least not yet. This woman Ollie was worried about seemed to be more than just his secretary. No matter how good she was at her job, no boss gets this worried about a missing employee.

"She's not just his secretary, is she?" Thea asked Diggle, looking at the club.

"No." He cupped her elbow and gently steered her into Verdant.

"So why was she attacked when my mom and I were? Why does someone want to hurt Ollie?"

"It's possible that it's not Oliver, personally, who's been targeted." Diggle said with a shrug. "It could be something QC related, or ... God only knows. There just isn't enough solid info to work with."

Roy was seated at the desk in her office when Thea and Digg walked in. He'd pulled up the footage of the outside security cams covering the parking lot. Oliver was leaning over his shoulder, watching intently.

Thea studied them for a second, as Diggle went to stand behind Oliver. This Felicity was important to more than just Oliver, she realized. This family chat he was talking about was suddenly a lot more ominous than it had seemed at first.

"That's the van that was in the garage." Diggle said, pointing at the screen.  
"See where it goes, Roy."

Yep, there was a lot more going on than she'd realized. Part of her wanted to stamp her foot and demand they explain and include her. That part was 6 and needed a nap, she recognized.

The haunted look in Oliver's eyes, which was completely at odds with his carved-in-stone face and his clipped tone of command, stopped her from pushing. She loved her brother, still missing the mischief-maker the island had stolen from her. This man before her now reminded her of their father on the last 'Take Your Daughter to Work Day' they'd had together: the commander directing his troops.

"I see what she means, '5 to 3'. Can we get a number off that plate?"

Diggle had been speaking to Roy, but Thea stepped forward. "Let me do it. They showed me how when they upgraded the systems after the quake."

She zeroed in on the van and printed out a very clear shot of the plate, then printed a similar shot of the sedan's plate. The sedan drove out of the lot the same way the van had come in and reached the end of the picture before doing anything else. The other two left the van and walked away out of camera range in the other direction.

The van didn't move. According to the current feed, it was still there. Thea copied the whole sequence onto the hard drive along with the stills of the plates.

From the desk, Thea watched Oliver and Diggle search the van. From the looks of it, they'd come up empty. It was awkward to watch the way Oliver stood with his hands fisted, as though looking for something to hit.

When they returned to the office Thea handed Oliver the two prints and a disk with the rest of the images.

"I figured the cops would want this," she said to his questioning look. "I didn't include your tour of the thing, so that..."

A blonde in black leather came striding across the screen up to the door. Diggle followed Oliver as he went down to let her in. It bothered Thea that Roy seemed to recognize her and then she realized that it was Sara Lance.

Thea darted down the stairs and hugged Sara. And was surprised at how much it was like hugging Oliver these days. Whatever she'd been doing during her time away from home, even her muscles had muscles.

"Hi, Speedy! Wow, you've grown!"

"What are you doing here?"

"Sara's dad let her let me look at Felicity's tablet. It was left behind when she was taken." Oliver was looking at the tablet as he spoke, flipping through files with more assurance than Thea had expected. He took his phone out of his pocket and showed it to Sara. "I don't know when this was actually sent, but it showed up on my phone just a few minutes ago. The van's still here but there's nothing in it we could see that would help find her. The security feed shows her being driven off in a sedan, but we have no proof the directions are valid."

Diggle snorted. "I'd know the entrance to this lot in my sleep. Remember she's good at counting cards. She could easily track the way she was taken with this as her start point."

"I hope to God you're right," Oliver said, softly.

"Did you find the files?" Roy asked, coming up to Thea's side.

"Yeah," Oliver said. "She had it set up to send the garage feed for the week sent to her tablet. I want to see how the attack went down first, so I can see what I'm looking for otherwise."

Thea frowned at that. What else could he be looking for? They had the van in the parking lot and the guys' faces were all caught by the feed.

She circled around behind the group looking intently at the screen. It was scary to see the whole thing play out like a tv show. Thea knew she jumped when the gun went off and Diggle went down. Oliver reached across and gripped Digg's shoulder.

"Saved by the bell," Digg quipped, when the elevator made the masked man retreat to the van with the others. Even Thea could tell he was putting on a front for the others. For Oliver.

"These guys were pros." Sara said, looking at Oliver.

"The guy who attacked Thea was wearing a ski mask and his hands were empty, so he was counting on simply being able to muscle her out without needing and reinforcement." Oliver moved away from the table and started pacing, his head down as he spoke, as if thinking out loud. "From the footage I've seen of the men who attacked the campaign rally, they wore the same kind of ski mask. One of them had a taser, but that was all."

"So you think the attacks on Moira and Thea were cover for snatching Felicity?" Sara asked, head cocked as she looked at the frozen scene.

"It's the masks." Oliver said, gesturing at the screen. "These aren't cheap and covering the face like that is a deliberate attempt to intimidate their victim. You can't see any human feature and that inhumanity strips you of yours. You know that."

Sara winced and nodded.

Thea felt her inner cranky 6-year-old revving up for a tantrum. It wasn't just that they were all talking ... around her instead of to her. Nor was it that they all seemed to be a unit that didn't include her. The thing that stopped her whine before it even hit her teeth was, at the end, that flash of pain that crossed her brother's face.

It disappeared almost fast enough for her to be able to pretend she hadn't really seen it, but she wasn't going to pretend any more. Not about Ollie. Not like that.  
He'd been a frozen, way-too-tightly wound bundle of anger and hurt when he'd first come back from the island. Back from the dead. It wasn't until his accident the night of their abortive Christmas party that she'd started to see a thaw, to see a bit behind the walls he had built, to realize how thick they had to be to contain all the dark things he hid.

He was a good man who was trying to be a good brother and she realized she had let him leave those walls between them far too long. He'd better not think she was going to let him weasel out of that talk he'd mentioned. On that she and her inner 6-year-old were in complete agreement.

Moving up to Oliver, Thea tapped him on the shoulder. "Will this thing find her phone?"

"I have a tracker on her phone. Unfortunately it only works when it's on because it's a battery drainer."

Thea looked at him askance. "You track your secretary, Ollie? Seriously?"

He shrugged, but looked uncomfortable. "I can track her, she can track me. I had it put on her phone, and the tablet, because of how ugly things got after the acquittal. She works so closely with me I was concerned it would make her a target."

She punched his shoulder, reverting to brat for a moment. "You didn't put it on my phone! Or mom's!"

Oliver motioned for her phone. "I couldn't get it away from you long enough for that," he told her, showing her the little dot inside the battery cover, under the case.

"You bugged my phone!?"

"Weren't you just pissed because I hadn't?" he asked.

"I'm a girl! I don't gave to be rational! And what about Mom?"

"Yeah. She has one too."

Thea heard the flat tone of his voice and wondered at it. It finally registered that he hadn't said the word 'Mom' in her hearing since the campaign kicked off. She'd known he was a little off when he'd introduced their mother, but hadn't been able to figure why. One more question; she should start writing them down.

"I think we've seen all we can from the tablet," Oliver was saying as he put it back in its case. "Thea, do you have the stuff you copied from the cameras? Sara can take them both back to her dad so the cops can deal with the van."

Thea handed him the prints and the disk, which he slipped into the case as well. "Speedy, I'm going to ask you to stay here with Roy and watch the cameras. If someone comes for the van before the cops do, you can call me and watch them. Just watch them, okay?"

Thea sighed. "Okay. Just watch."

Oliver kissed her on the top of her head, oblivious to the eye roll she gave him. "Thanks. I'd just as soon not need to test the bug today, alright?"

"I love you, Ollie." Though she really wanted to tell him to be careful.

"Love you too, Thea." And it sounded to her like he'd heard her.

Back up in the office, Thea watched Oliver and Sara get in the car as Diggle started it up. When they pulled out of the lot, though, they didn't go back towards where she knew Quentin Lance lived. Better get a pencil out.

"You were awfully open in front of her," Sara said, carefully, as Diggle rounded the corner into the alley.

Oliver sighed. "Felicity discovered a secret my mother had been keeping. Malcolm Merlyn is Thea's father."

Sara's jaw dropped. "Okay, that puts your family way ahead in the bitchy relative drama category. The Lance family has nothing to compete with that!"

Oliver shook his head as they got out of the car. "I'd be happy to concede that race."

"I'm guessing Moira isn't the one who told you, either. Not if she's sat on it for so long."

"And you'd be right. Felicity tried to get her to come clean and my mother basically threatened to shoot the messenger. Or that I probably would."

"Wow. So you're thinking she's probably behind this?"

"Yeah," Oliver said, as they trooped down the stairs. "It was my first thought, especially since they came armed with live ammo there, but not elsewhere. Neither she nor Thea were supposed to be endangered, so no live ammo allowed. With Felicity I think it was a different matter because Digg might be expected to be with her."

"So you're going to tell Thea everything?"

"The parts of it that are mine to tell."

Sara looked at him as he began to strip out of his street clothes.

"I'm hoping to keep her out of ... this." Oliver waved his hand around at the lair. "So long as she doesn't have the code to the door, we can keep track of when she's down here. It would mean that you'd have to be in costume down here a lot more, but the choice is yours."

Sara nodded. Typical of Oliver, trying to protect everyone. "I hardly think I will be much of a surprise once she finds out about you. For what it's worth, I think it's the right thing to do. I wish I could do the same, but she's nowhere near ready for that level of sharing."

Digg pulled up the street-level view of the Glades on the computer, showing the view of the location the tracker had suddenly started to indicate. As the text had indicated, it did have two floors and a big overhead door to one of the street-side bays. It was the shortest building in its general vicinity, so Oliver would be able to drop down on it easily.

"Anybody else smelling 'trap' here?" he called over his shoulder. He understood that neither of the two behind him had a shred of modesty or discomfort when it came to stripping off down here, but that wasn't the way his Momma had raised him.

"Of course it's a trap." Oliver came up behind him, fastening his quiver. "Can we get the aerial view? Good. There's two skylights. If it's set up the way Verdant was, they're probably keeping Felicity in the office area, which is probably on the other side of the building. While I'm being big and loud out in the open, Sara, you'll get her out of there. Just remember she hates heights."

Sara flashed a grin at his back. "I'll take good care of your girlfriend, Oliver. I promise."

Oliver pulled his mask on and pulled up the hood. "Let's go."

He landed carefully, silently, next to the front skylight. A quick look showed the sedan they'd taken Felicity away from Verdant in. It was a punch to the heart that she'd been that close and he'd not felt it.

He burst though the plexi, landing neatly on the floor below. "I'm in."

Sara clicked her comm and he started to move, keeping low. It took only a couple of moments to find all three bodies with arrows sticking out of them. Black arrows.

As he stood up, to head up the stairs to help Sara with what she was probably facing, two bodies landed on him. There was a flurry of blows exchanged and Oliver could feel more than one of his landed. It seemed that at least one of the pair had targeted his ribs before they both faded away.

Oliver charged up the stairs and met them again at the top. He scored a good hit on one and sent him tumbling down the stairs behind him. The other man jumped up and came swinging back around, missing Oliver, who'd seen the move coming and put an arrow into the man's right shoulder, causing him to lose his grip.

Oliver heard the fall, but he was too busy moving down the little hall towards the office, arrow nocked and ready. He arrived in time to see her drop the last of the three men who'd been waiting for whoever took it. Sara tossed Felicity's phone to him as they moved back towards the stairs.

Two more men dropped on them as they reached the top of the steps. Sara engaged the first one as Oliver sent his ready arrow into the other man. Another man slammed into Oliver from behind; another hit to his ribs, he noted, as he engaged that one.

They won clear of the stairs and Oliver said "Door!" into his comm as they raced out of the building to meet Digg and the Bentley in front of the door. He and Sara piled in and they pulled away.

The phone rang in his hand before they'd gone two blocks. The number was blocked, but Oliver had a sinking feeling he knew who it was. Still, he triggered the distortion as he answered the call.

"Yes?"

"You're improving, Oliver. It took you much less time to deal with my men than I'd expected."

Even though he'd been expecting it, hearing Malcolm's voice was a shock.

"I'm sorry if you were expecting to find Ms. Smoak there. I didn't like the way they'd behaved with her, so I decided to remove her from their custody. She's safe and sound. So far. So is my daughter. I can't say the same thing about her boyfriend, but I don't know what she could have seen in him."

Oliver had to force his hand to ease its grip on the phone so that it didn't break or disconnect. He had to hope Malcolm was as careless and arrogant about Roy's condition as Oliver had been about Malcolm's on that rooftop.

"What do you want, Malcolm?"

"You, of course, Oliver. We have business to finish before my daughter and I leave town. You will come to my estate. You will come alone. You will come unarmed. If you are not here within 2 hours, I'm afraid Ms. Smoak will start to lose fingers for every 5 minutes you are late."

The phone went dead in his hand and Oliver turned it off gently, while Digg tore through the streets back to Verdant.


	12. Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Malcolm has a plan that nobody likes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing but the mistakes.

Oliver all but levitated out of the Bentley and into Verdant. Roy was lying on his back in the middle of the floor with an arrow through his chest. At first, there was only the faintest movement of his chest to indicate he was still alive, then a scrabbling movement of his hands as though he was trying to reach the arrow and pull it out.

Gently, Oliver lifted Roy into a sitting position. The tip of what was actually a crossbow bolt was barely visible thru the hole in the back of his shirt. Taking a deep breath, Oliver yanked the bolt out of Roy's body and laid him back on the floor.

It seemed an eternity before Roy took another breath, but he did and then another. "Fight!" Oliver told him. "We can't go after the bastards who took Thea until you can stand, so fight!"

Roy whispered something that might have been rhymed with duck. Oliver snorted a laugh.

"Say it again when you can put some heat into it, kid."

Roy's breathing was getting better faster than he'd hoped when Oliver registered Sara and Digg sitting in chairs at the nearest table.

"Did somebody check the cameras?" he asked, pushing the hood back and pulling the mask up and off.

"Yeah. They were disabled and wiped back to about five minutes after we pulled out of the alley." Digg looked as disgusted as Oliver felt. "I pulled the plug on the phone lines just in case they were eavesdropping."

Oliver looked at the clock on the wall. Verdant would be staffing up in about an hour. There was no way to open without Roy or Thea there. And certainly not without cleaning Roy's blood off the floor.

Well, he could fix a small part of that. "Digg, do me a favor and get him downstairs. He's going to need blood or something to replace the lost volume. Find me the crew list for tonight and I'll call them off. Meanwhile, I'll get the mop and get this cleaned up before some helpful soul decides to call us in as a crime scene."

In the end, Oliver had to stay with Roy to keep him calm while he recovered while Digg did the mopping. He was able to reach the whole crew before they got to the doors and he even invented a plausible (No Water) emergency reason to be closed, which they put on the signs on the doors. Sara slipped out of costume to take the tablet and Thea's info back to her Dad, after securing Digg's promise not to let Oliver leave without her.

Oliver had no intention of leaving without any of the team. You don't go into battle without your troops unless you don't want to survive. And he very much wanted to survive this.

To that end, he worked out his plan while he sat watching Roy heal himself. He knew Malcolm's house as well as he knew his own. He hoped that Sara would remember it as well because she was going to have to follow him in.

When he explained it to the three of them, he met with the expected resistance. None of them had expected him to hand himself over to Malcolm exactly as ordered. But he knew that it was necessary to keep Malcolm convinced he had all the cards.

"Felicity will kill me." Digg said, shaking his head.

"She'll be alive, so forgive me if I'm more concerned about what I need to do to keep her that way," Oliver said with a shrug. "It's clear that he wants to hurt me before he kills me. He blames me for living when Tommy died. He's not alone in that."

"I wish you weren't so cavalier about the idea," Sara complained, wincing at his oblique reference to Laurel.

"It won't be the first time he's had a go at me."

"No," said Digg. "That time he put you in the hospital."

"And the last time, I put an arrow through his chest."

"To be accurate, you stabbed yourself with it first."

Oliver shrugged. "I didn't want him to choke me to death. Sue me."

Roy watched and listened as the other two tried to argue Oliver out of his plan. He didn't understand how they thought they could succeed. He'd only ever seen Oliver yield to Felicity, and she was one of the ones he was trying to rescue.

Oliver turned to Roy. "How are you?"

"Is that a trick question?"

Oliver flashed a grin. "No. You understand what I need you to do?"

"Yeah."

"Can you do it? Can you stay focused on the plan even if he threatens Thea? He won't hurt her, because he wants her with him in whatever madness he has planned next, but he might threaten her and he might hit her. You have to be able to keep a lid on your temper and stick with the plan. Not just stand here and tell me you will, but actually believe that I can do what I say I will, if you do what I'm asking you to do. Can you?"

Roy understood what Oliver was saying. A very large portion of the slim chance Oliver had to survive this depended on him. And Oliver was asking him to be sure that he could keep his emotions in check long enough not to blow it and kill them all. But hey, no pressure!

"I'll do it." Roy promised, and held out his hand. Oliver smiled and took it. Roy realized that this moment was the one he'd been hoping for since the vigilante had saved his life on that train. The fact that this was also Thea's brother gave Roy no small comfort, because Oliver was probably the only other person who loved Thea as much as he did.

Wearing a spare set of sweats over his leathers, Oliver picked the bike up from the QC garage, where he'd left it Friday night. He drove it dressed that way, out to within sight of Malcolm's gate house. Since the gate was open, Oliver drove on through, not surprised that it closed behind him.

"I'm inside the estate," he said into the comm in the helmet. He stopped the bike and stripped the sweats off, stuffing them into the space under the seat. If they survived this, chances were someone was going to need something else to wear.

It took him only a few more minutes to get up to the front door of the house. He parked the bike and left the helmet and the keys with it. He hadn't bothered putting on the hood or the mask. He had no secrets from Malcolm on that score.

Three of Malcolm's minions met him inside the door. Like the ones he'd met earlier, they focused their attentions on his ribs, back and front, body blows all. Oliver made no attempt to fight them off, knowing that it would only delay them finishing whatever beating Malcolm had instructed they mete out.

One of them made a phone call, letting Malcolm know that Oliver had arrived. With an economy of movement he'd have admired any other time, they bound his hands behind his back and looped a veterinary catch pole around his neck. The pole made climbing the stairs awkward, but it was a short trip.

Thea woke up tied to a chair in the ballroom of the Merlyn estate. She and Ollie had played here with Tommy years ago but the only way she recognized it was by the cherubs in the ceiling mural. Malcolm had set up some kind of stage in the middle of the room, with two columns that reached the ceiling. Looking at it, Thea couldn't imagine what it was for.

She tried pulling first one hand and then the other one free of the ropes, tried rocking the chair off its feet only to find it was anchored to the floor itself. The noise, however, attracted Malcolm's attention, which was really the last thing she wanted.

"Well, well! Look, Ms. Smoak! My daughter has joined us!"

"You son of a bitch! You killed my boyfriend! You killed Roy!"

Malcolm stepped up to her and slapped her across the face. It hurt, but she'd seen him slap one of his ninja minions back at Verdant and she knew it could have been worse. There probably wouldn't even be a bruise, but she was past caring about that.

Reaching forward, Malcolm cupped her chin in his hand, firmly enough to discourage another attempt at defiance, and he tipped he face up to his. "You'll understand, in time, that it was for the best. You're all I have left now, my only child, and I have plans for you that don't include a ruffian from the Glades. There's only Oliver to deal with still and then we can be on our way."

His matter-of-fact dismissal of Roy took her breath away. She'd known Malcolm was a monster because who but a monster would destroy the Glades like that? She understood that he was saying she was his child, but it boggled her mind that he would think she could believe a lie like that.

"You are nothing to me!" she shouted back, suddenly afraid that he might hurt Oliver because of this delusion. "I'm Robert Queen's daughter..."

It was the look of pity on the face of the blonde across the room that stopped her. If even Ollie's secretary knew this truth... What was going on? This couldn't be true! It just couldn't!

But even pulling out memories of times with Robert that reinforced her denial didn't quite kill the fear. Because there were questions that kept sniping at her. What about her dark hair, her dark eyes, about the times she'd been out with both boys and strangers had paired her with Tommy instead of Oliver?

She wasn't aware of the tears until Malcolm (be damned if she'd call him her father) blotted them away with his handkerchief. The blonde's eyes were closed as if in pain, when Thea could see her again. It really hurt to think that Ollie had told his secretary, but not the girl who'd thought she was his sister.

"He's here? ... He made good time! ... He's complied with my instructions? ... Good... Yes, bring him up."

It took Thea a moment to register that Malcolm had been talking to the Bluetooth in his ear. There was a huge knot of worry deep in the pit of her stomach. Oliver was here and based on the look in Malcolm's eye, whatever he had planned was going to be bad for the man she still thought of as her brother.

She hadn't thought she could still be shocked until she saw 3 men surrounding Oliver, pushing him forward into the room. Even with his hands behind his back, Oliver looked like he was leading the parade.

Except that Oliver was wearing green leather like the vigilante. And the look in his eyes reminded her of the two times in her life she had seen their ... his father furiously angry. Suddenly she understood that this was the man who had survived 5 years of hell, this dangerous, angry man. And she could see that Malcolm didn't really see what he'd awakened with this supposed trap.

"They stormed into Verdant after you left," Thea told him, tears starting again. "They killed Roy and kidnapped me."

"What were you thinking, Oliver? Letting that riffraff close to her?"

Oliver laughed. Both Thea and Malcolm looked at him as though he'd lost his mind. Good.

"You don't like him because he has issues with authority," Oliver said to Malcolm. "It took me a while to see how much he loves her, but after that well, I figure she deserves to be happy."

"You should be more careful about antagonizing me, Oliver," Malcolm said as he moved to stand in front of him. "You need to work on your attitude." Putting his whole body into it, Malcolm backhanded Oliver.

The two minions holding his arms kept Oliver upright and the blow left a mark on his cheekbone, but he faced Malcolm again with a smirk. Eyes narrowed, Malcolm waved at his minions who untied Oliver's hands.

"I see you dispensed with that ridiculous hood this time. You can lose the jacket as well."

Still smirking, Oliver unzipped the jacket and handed it to the minion next to him. Thea had only seen a glimpse of her brother's skin in all the time he'd been back from the island. She had had a vague idea that he had scars, but the reality was stunning.

He'd said innocuous things about the island, whenever someone was so foolish as to push. It had been cold, he'd said at that first dinner together and she hadn't understood, then, that it hadn't been the weather he'd been talking about. And even now, there were bruises forming along his ribs that had her wanting to cry for the way Malcolm traced them, tested them for a response, trying to cause pain.

Thea had heard the message he'd given her, that Roy was still alive, and her heart sang for it. But she was so afraid now that she wasn't going to be able to keep both of them and she wasn't sure she could live with that. Malcolm, circling Oliver, saw her distress and smiled.

He leaned over and spoke in Oliver's ear, but loudly enough for all to hear. "It's really sweet of her to be so worried about you. Even though she knows she's not really your sister. If your mother had been more reasonable earlier we wouldn't be having this conversation and Thea wouldn't be so hurt that you didn't tell her the truth. Any truth, apparently."

Oliver snorted and looked Thea in the eye. "What happened between you and my mother is nothing to me. The non-Dearden half of Thea's genetic makeup could have come from any random stranger just as easily, and it still wouldn't change the fact that Robert Queen raised her and loved her. He was her father just as much as he was mine. You had the chance to be something other than the sperm donor and you didn't take it. You're 20 years too late."

Thea saw Malcolm's face twist just before he punched Oliver in the back. The force of the blow drove him to his knees, but it didn't silence him. "Thea isn't some doll you could mold, even if you'd started when she was little. If you'd even stepped up when you murdered Robert Queen, you could have been something to her besides a crazy monster blowing up cities. Your machine nearly killed her like it did Tommy and Roy's the reason she's still alive."

Malcolm pushed the minion holding the catch pole away and pulled Oliver to his feet with it. "I think it's time to start the last part of the program."

Felicity's reaction to Oliver's skin was predictably different from Thea's. Malcolm had spent considerable time with her, describing in loving detail how he intended to punish Oliver. It had chilled her to the core of her soul and now here he stood, ready to let Malcolm do his worst so that no one else would suffer.

Except she would. Felicity wished that she could still speak, so that she could tell Oliver all the things she'd been bottling up inside. He looked into her eyes as Malcolm pushed him up onto the platform, and her heart lifted. He winked at her. He had a plan.

She had hoped that one of the others would have been able to talk him out of this madness, but she'd given up on that once Thea arrived. She'd tried to warn Malcolm that Oliver wasn't the pushover he seemed to be expecting, that this wouldn't work the way he believed. Which was when he taped her mouth shut.

Now Felicity was almost glad that someone else was restraining her unfiltered mouth. She'd have laughed at that wink and that would have been disastrous. She put her heart in her eyes and Oliver smiled at her.

Malcolm stepped between them. "You should know that no gentleman ogles his secretary, Mr. Queen!" He slapped Oliver across the face, rocking back on his heels.

Felicity froze. Then she heard Oliver speak and she wanted to cry.

"Ms. Smoak is my Executive Assistant. Not my secretary."

It earned Oliver another slap, but when Malcolm moved back behind the platform to light the brazier only she could see, she could see the corner of his mouth tic up. Malcolm waved two of his minions towards the platform. One on each side, they pulled two rings down from the top of the columns.

"Take hold of the rings, Oliver," Malcolm said, as he uncoiled his whip and cracked it in the air.

The minions pulled the rings to the center of the platform and Oliver gripped them, his face still. The chains settled back as the weights attached to them pulled his arms out straight. Felicity shivered, knowing what Malcolm had planned.

Hoping to catch his eye, Felicity moved her head. Oliver met her glance and she held it. She determined to give him a link to something beyond Malcolm and the room they were in.

She heard the first blow land and saw the reaction in Oliver's eyes. Dimly Felicity was aware that Thea was shouting for Malcolm to stop, but Oliver was the whole of her focus. She had known that Sara could tolerate more pain than she wanted to consider, but it hurt her heart that Oliver had a similar tolerance.

In the end, after what seemed like an obscenely long time, Malcolm stopped. Felicity became aware that Malcolm was breathing heavily from his exertions as he tossed the whip aside. Oliver's head slumped on his chest and she heard him whisper, "She's not hurt, she's just upset. She's fine."

He was talking about Thea, Felicity understood. And speaking at all because the rest of the team had been listening through one of the comms that was probably hidden by the belt she'd never seen him wear before. His voice was rough from all the screaming he hadn't done, which made her heart hurt.

Malcolm came to stand in front of Oliver holding a long thin knife. Felicity knew it had been heated in the brazier and wanted to scream, herself. As Malcolm smiled, Oliver pinned him with his thousand yard stare.

"You should have been the one who died!" Malcolm said, turning the knife back and forth.

Only someone who knew him as well as she did would have caught the pained inhalation. Felicity would have sworn at Malcolm and argued about his own responsibility for Tommy's death, but Oliver said nothing. He simply continued to stare at Malcolm.

Malcolm stepped forward and slid the hot blade along the knife scars on Oliver's chest. Thea was hoarse and mostly incoherent, but to Felicity it seemed as though neither man was aware of anything or anyone else. She could see Oliver inhale sharply with each cut, but his face was stony and shuttered. And Malcolm, looking up at that closed expression, was clearly frustrated by what he perceived as a lack of response.

She hated what was happening, but she understood the thinking going on in Oliver's mind. If Malcolm had any idea what would truly hurt Oliver, he would have put herself or Thea on the platform because he could have broken Oliver with the first cut or lash. This way, by putting himself in Malcolm's hands, by continuing to challenge him, he kept Malcolm focused on physically hurting him, which he knew he could endure more easily.

Then, suddenly, the lights went out. Felicity could hear sounds of battle as the three minions in the room moved towards the doors. But over that sound she heard a click from underneath her chair.

"Don't let those rings go, Oliver," Malcolm called, moving towards Thea. "There's a very nasty device beneath Ms. Smoak's chair and it will go off if those weights you're holding fall."

There was another, louder click that came from the platform, but Felicity couldn't tell what caused it. Thea was angry and fighting Malcolm, but he was relentlessly moving her towards the doorway. A flashlight shone behind her, and after a moment, Felicity felt a gloved hand reach over and pulled the tape off in a smooth, quick move.

The sound of combat had passed and Oliver raised his voice, even as he watched Felicity. "Roy! Go after Thea, Roy. Don't let him leave with her."

The door Thea and Malcolm had exited through slammed open and Felicity heard running feet.

"He held," Felicity heard Diggle say, from the other side of where Oliver stood. "We'd still be coming up out of the basement without him to clear the way."

Sara's voice came from behind the flashlight. "He heard you and that helped a lot. He knew you could see her and he trusted you to tell him the truth."

"Can you see the power source?" Oliver asked, his voice still hoarse.

"Yep." There were two small clip sounds from behind the chair and the buzzing Felicity hadn't been fully aware of, stopped. "Done."

"Oliver?"

The note of worry in Digg's voice, made Felicity look up sharply. Sara shone the flash on Oliver's face, and caught the trickles of blood running down his upraised arm. The light dropped as Sara stepped forward.

"Just stand still, Ollie. Digg, if you'll pull down on the ring on your side, I'll pull down on this one. Let us know when you can let them go."

Felicity could hear the chains moving and heard Oliver's wince as he released his grip. "Please, somebody untie me! Please let me up!"

"Hang on just a second," Sara said and Felicity heard the chains running back up to the top of the columns. Then she felt gloved hands undoing the ropes on her wrists and then on her ankles. "Go ahead and stand, but give yourself a moment before you try to move."

Felicity stood and drew a shaky breath. An instant later, she was enfolded in Oliver's arms. Carefully, she put her arms up around his neck, not wanting to even brush against the welts she knew crossed his back.

They stood like that for a small eternity. Neither wanted to release the other, but Digg cleared his throat and said, "We should really not be doing this here. Not now."

With a sigh, Oliver pressed his lips to her forehead. "We have a lot to talk about," he whispered, and he stepped back.

"Where's the car from here?" he asked Digg.

"Brought the Escalade. It's down just off this end of the drive, in the trees," Digg said. "I've got your jacket, so let's go."

Felicity stepped up and fitted herself under Oliver's left side. Sara moved to do the same on his right and they carried him out that way. Thea was fighting with Roy, trying to get back into the house. Malcolm was lying face down on the grass off to the side, but no one seemed to care.

"Ollie!" Thea ran up to them, but stopped short of trying to embrace him. "I'm so sorry, Ollie! I'm soooo sorry!"

He lifted his head to look at her. "I'll be fine, Speedy," he said with a ghost of a smile. "You've done nothing to be sorry for. "

Digg patted her on the shoulder. "Let's get home and we'll take care of him."

Roy looked from Oliver to Digg. "I'll take the bike and get the cart set up for you. Thea can ride with you guys."

"Thea will ride with you," she said, poking Roy in the rib. "Thea is not leaving you alone for a while."

Oliver spoke quietly, "He kept you in the dark because I asked him to, Thea. I wanted to protect you. I did it wrong."

Thea bit her lip. "That's okay so long as you realize that this doesn't get you out of that talk you promised."

"Scout's honor," Oliver said, with a twitch of his lips.

"You were never a boy scout, Ollie."

"Sue me," he snorted.

She brushed her thumb along his cheek and swung herself up behind Roy. They roared down the drive as Sara and Felicity helped Oliver onto the flattened third row of the SUV. Felicity slid in along next to him, to help steady him on the drive back to the lair.

Sara sat up front with Digg and turned the radio up, trying to give the pair a little privacy. While Digg drove, she called her father and told him about Malcolm. And smiled.


	13. Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aftermath
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing but the mistakes.

Felicity helped them slide the now-unconscious Oliver out of the back of the SUV using the sheet Digg had laid down when he lay down. She supported him, mostly upright, until Sara could get to his other side. Felicity looked across at Sara and bit her lip at how hot his skin of his back was.

Digg punched the code into the door and let Sara slip past, using her shoulder to block the door open while Felicity got herself and Oliver onto the landing. It was a tricky series of maneuvers to get Oliver down into the lair without all of them falling. Roy and Thea were waiting at the bottom of the stairs and Roy took Sara's place once they were all clear of the steps.

Digg followed quickly and started issuing instructions. "I think the best way to get him patched up is to use Felicity's chair. Sara, will you put the sheet over the chair and we'll settle him in it so he can lean forward and rest his head on the back of the chair."

Sara moved the chair closer to the steel table where Roy had laid out the swabs and bandages as well as the needles and thread. The sheet settled into place, Roy was able to position Oliver gently, as Diggle had suggested. Sara shivered and looked at Felicity.

"I'm going to shower and get out of these," she said, tugging at her costume. "Unless you want to go first?"

Felicity shook her head. "I have nothing to change into down here, so I think I'll wait until I can soak in copious amounts of hot water at home. Besides..." She waved at her hand, which Oliver had a firm grip on, fingers interlaced. Sara nodded with a small smile and headed to the bathroom.

"I guess I should deal with his hands first, then." Digg studied Oliver's free hand. "The spikes that Malcolm triggered when he armed the bomb were nasty."

Felicity leaned over and watched as Digg cleansed the wounds.

"They're deeper than I like," he said and Felicity nodded.

"Local," she said, and bit her lip. "He can yell at me when he's awake."

Digg nodded and injected the anesthetic into Oliver's palm. Letting it work, he gently cleaned the welts along Oliver's back.

"It looks like there's only a couple places that will need stitches."

Felicity closed her eyes and and began to trace patterns on the back of Oliver's hand with her thumb. Sara came out of the bathroom just as Roy was helping Diggle settle Oliver on the steel table to make it easier to deal with the wounds on his chest. Felicity was trying to get Oliver to switch hands so Digg could also work on the one she'd been holding, but he wasn't having it.

Thea was standing alone in the middle of the floor with tears running down her face. Sara put an arm around her shoulder and Thea turned into her, burying her face in Sara's shoulder. Felicity caught Sara's eye and looked pointedly at the top of the stairs.

Sara nodded and whispered something to Thea, who nodded. "We're going upstairs to make some tea. I don't think anyone's going to need help staying awake tonight, but I could use something warm." She spoke loudly enough that Roy heard and he glanced over at them.

"I'll be up in a minute."

Sara waved at him and they went up the stairs. Thea went behind the bar and poured out 2 shots of whiskey. She set one in front if Sara and downed the other herself. Sara downed hers as well and looked over at Thea.

"Is it always this bad?" Thea whispered.

Sara shook her head. "No. Usually it's no more than bruises, strained muscles." She sat down at the bar. "I know it looks awful, and I'm not saying it's not bad, but if you asked him, he'd count this as a win."

Thea looked at her as if she was speaking in tongues.

"Truly. Because everybody's alive and nobody else got hurt doing it."

"Why, though? I mean, every night?"

Sara shrugged. "Yeah it is pretty much a nightly thing. If there isn't someone specific we're tracking, it's just a patrol. The Glades was bad enough before the quake. Now, there are people who'd skin their grandmothers for a quarter. So, we go out and put the fear of God into the population and hope for the best."

"But, why!?"

"I can't answer for Oliver, but I've got a lot to make up for. I ... I wasn't the best person while I was away. And the skills I have aren't the sort that most employers are looking for, so I need to be able to do ... something positive with them."

Thea thought about that. Remembering all the times Oliver had stepped in to protect her, even (especially?) when she didn't want his interference. She'd snapped at him more than once for trying to keep her from making the mistakes that had gotten him in the tabs all those times. It was easy now, with what she'd seen of him today, to recognize what a bitch she'd been. What a child. There was going to be a battle royal, but she wasn't going to let him do this without her anymore.

Sara was trying to suppress a smile and Thea caught her. Flashing her a wide smile, Thea said "Place your bets."

Sara laughed. "Oh, Speedy! My money's on you all the way."

Thea grinned back. "Can I just adopt you? Laurel is such an idiot and you're way more fun!"

Sara's smile got a little crooked, but she held out her arms and they hugged.

Roy came into the bar a few moments later. Thea was showing Sara where the tea maker was behind the bar when she saw him. Sara managed to get out from between them, but she wasn't sure how.

Thea was sobbing as Roy held her tightly enough to restrict her breathing. Sara remembered seeing the kid on the floor in a pool of his own blood and understood what motivated both of them. Affirming their mutual survival. She suspected this bond was why Oliver was so dedicated to keeping the kid sane and alive.

A few minutes later, Digg came up. The tea was ready, so Sara brought him a mug boosted with a shot of whiskey. He looked tired enough to be asleep on his feet and she knew he had been doing his best to keep Oliver grounded during this crisis, which couldn't have been easy.

"It's fortified," Sara said, handing it to him. "I figured you could use it."

"Amen to that!" he said, taking a sip. Shaking his head, he added "I still didn't get that one hand. He won't let her go. Even completely out, he's still holding onto her."

"I think he's made his decision," Sara said, grinning. "I suspect he's literally not going to let her out of his sight for a while."

"I hope to God. It's been crazy-making, watching them, him, dance around what everybody else could see. I have to say he held it together while she was gone a lot better than I was afraid he would."

"From what I've seen of him so far, he has two main modes: asleep or rescuing."

"You may be right," Digg said, shaking his head. "I wish he could sleep more, but that may change with Felicity in his life. She has a really good influence on him."

"I got the whip." Sara said, biting her lip. "I figured that the heat on the knife blade would ruin any chance of getting a useable sample of his blood, but the whip was something else."

Digg nodded. "I saw. It's still in the back seat. And I took the knife anyway. Why risk it?"

Sara's phone rang suddenly and everyone in the room jumped a bit.

"My Dad."

Sara answered the call. "Hey, Dad. Yeah. ... Good. ... Oh, wow, really? ... Yeah, good! ... The Arrow left everybody here at Verdant. ... Yeah, Ms. Smoak is fine. I'm not sure if she's up to... Oh. Okay, I'll tell her you're coming. ... Yeah, I guess you can talk to Thea and Oliver at the same time. ... Okay."

"How long?" Digg asked, moving towards the door down to the lair.

"About 20 minutes."

"Okay. Roy! Gimme a hand getting Oliver up here."

"Why?" Thea demanded. "Can't we just leave him in peace?"

Sara shook her head. "Oliver knew he'd have to talk to police because of the way Felicity was taken. He won't let her be bullied, but my dad won't push her too hard. He likes her, so he'll want to get this done and over with so her statement is on the record with a minimum of hassle."

"But why does Oliver have to be here?"

"He wouldn't have had to be questioned except that they'll find his blood on the rings. His insistence on holding onto Felicity will help in a way because Digg can stitch up that hand while my dad, and probably his lieutenant, are here. It'll explain any other blood or tissue samples they find of his."

"They're going to ask me questions, too, aren't they?" Thea shivered. "I just want it all to go away."

Digg opened the door and Oliver, still holding Felicity's hand, came out. He was wearing one of the suits he kept in the lair, carrying the jacket in his other hand, and even though he'd forgone a tie, the shirt was buttoned and ready for it. His movements were stiffer than usual, to Sara's eye, but the fact that he was moving at all amazed her.

"This way you'll get it over with quickly," Oliver said, quietly. "So far as we know, Malcolm was trying to exact revenge against our mother for Tommy's death."

"So we don't tell them about..." Thea began.

"No." Oliver shook his head firmly. "I don't see that broadcasting that to anyone outside this room serves any purpose. If you choose to tell someone, that's completely up to you. For me, it makes no difference." He smiled at her and added, "I think Tommy would have loved it, but since that would have left you with two older brothers, you may not agree."

Thea smiled as Roy walked up to her.

"Don't tell them about Roy getting shot," Oliver continued, sitting at one of the tables while Digg spread out the sewing equipment. "I'll explain everything once they're gone. I haven't forgotten my promise."

Thea came over and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you. And I want in."

Digg burst out laughing. "What? Four sentences?"

Oliver smiled. "We'll talk."

"Uh huh."

Felicity looked at Oliver and smiled. He lifted their joined hands and kissed the back of hers. She kissed his thumb, his fingers the only part of that hand unbandaged.

"Do we mention the idea of there being two different groups doing the kidnapping?" Thea asked. "Do we even know who the first group was?"

"No." Oliver said, flatly. "I'm pretty sure our mother was responsible for Felicity's kidnapping, but that gets us into questions I'd rather not go into with the police."

A pounding from the entrance doors put an end to that conversation, but Oliver and Thea knew it wasn't done yet.

Quentin Lance looked better than he had since the quake, was Oliver's first thought. It had to help that Sara was able to stay in Starling City now, but being a Detective suited him. It would have been better if his lieutenant hadn't felt the need to shadow him here, but Oliver guessed that it was mostly because this case involved both his identities.

"Detective."

"Queen, Ms. Smoak, Ms. Queen. Before we take your statements we wanted to inform you that Mr. Merlyn was found on the grounds of his estate; he is comatose and currently in the medical wing at Iron Heights since that's the only secure facility with the medical staff who can deal with his injuries. He suffered serious brain damage and a fractured skull that required surgery to remove a piece of his skull to relieve pressure on the brain. He's being kept in a medically induced coma until his brain heals."

Everyone nodded as Lance and the other man sat across from Oliver and Felicity. Thea came and stood behind Oliver while Roy pulled up another chair and set it for her.

"I'd like to take this in chronological order," Lance said. "I believe you were the first to be attacked, Ms. Smoak. Can you tell me what happened?"

Felicity looked at Digg and said, "All last week, when I was coming into and leaving QC, I had the feeling I was being watched. I tried looking at some of the security footage from the garage, but I never saw anyone. Well, anyone who wasn't supposed to be there. It's a big building but you tend to recognize the people you see day after day, even if you don't know their names you know their faces and, anyway ... they were the only ones I saw. Thursday I asked Mr. Diggle if he would just ... hang around when I was coming and going."

Lance glanced at Diggle, who was still sewing the wounds on Oliver's hand closed. Diggle looked over at the detective and his lieutenant and said "I was happy to be of help. We arrived at QC at the same time Friday morning, so that was fine. I didn't see anyone out of the ordinary as we moved through the garage, at that time or later when I was able to review the security tapes. Mr Queen had an early dinner with his sister that evening, so I drove Mr. Queen to the restaurant and came back to QC to wait in the garage until Ms. Smoak was ready to leave."

Felicity took the story back and continued. "I saw Mr. Diggle get out of the car as I came across the garage. He said he hadn't seen anyone and then this van drove up and five men in masks burst out of it. Three of them attacked Mr. Diggle while the fourth started to pull me towards the van. Mr. Diggle was able to fight those men off when the man pushing me ... shot him. He moved to shoot again when the elevator sounded and they bundled me into the van and put a bag over my head."

Oliver squeezed her hand as she shivered. She smiled at him as she took a deep breath and continued. "The van drove out of the garage at a grandmotherly pace and took long enough that it took me a few minutes to realize that they'd brought me here."

Lance looked up at that. "How did you know?"

Felicity laughed, and Diggle marveled at how natural it sounded. "This is a really cool club and I enjoy coming here but the transition from the street to the parking lot is ... rough. I recognized the pattern of the bumps. So, when they transferred me from the van into a sedan, I was able to figure out where they went and roughly where I was in relation to Verdant when they stopped. They took me from the car to a room I think had been an office and they left me there, for the most part alone."

Felicity was aware of Oliver's growing stillness and moved her free hand to stroke the hand holding her other hand. She was rewarded by a tiny relaxation of his shoulders before she continued. These were two men she was most anxious to have see him as much an innocent victim in this situation as she and Thea had been, so having him get Arrow-y was bad.

"For some reason, nobody looked to see whether I still had my phone or not. I was able to text Mr. Queen about my location. I wasn't sure it even got out, given the way cell service works out here in the Glades. Several hours later, Mr. Merlyn came and took me away to his Estate."

"Did Merlyn say why he had you kidnapped?" the lieutenant asked her sharply.

Felicity took a deep breath, pushing back the memory of Malcolm's ugly recitation of the things he would do to Oliver. She knew Oliver could feel the tension in her, but she didn't want him to guess the cause.

"Mr. Merlyn did do a bit of ranting." She shrugged and looked at Oliver. "It sounded like he was pissed that his son was dead but neither of Mrs. Queen's children had been hurt in the quake."

"But, then, why take you?" Lance asked.

Felicity shrugged. "I don't know. He didn't say."

"I guess this is where I come in," Oliver said smoothly, drawing the attention of both cops. "As Mr. Diggle said, I was at dinner with my sister and Mr. Harper, at Refuge. We'd finished dinner and my sister went to the ladies room when Mr. Harper saw the report of the attack at our mother's campaign event. It indicated that no one had been hurt and showed our mother with Walter Steele."

Oliver looked over at Roy who nodded at the cops. "I went looking for my sister and found a man in a ski mask and sweats trying to muscle her out through the kitchen. When he saw me, he pushed her into my arms and ran. I tried to follow him but by the time I got out onto the street I got the call from Detective Lance telling me about the events at QC."

Lance looked up from his notes. "You were on your bike when you arrived."

Oliver nodded. "I'd left it at Verdant. It was easier to come here from the restaurant than to try to get a taxi."

The two cops shared a look of understanding. Oliver knew he could gave gotten ten cabs at Verdant, but more than a block away in any direction he'd have had to hijack one.

"Since Detective Lance was finished with it I took the Bentley to the hospital to pick up Mr. Diggle."

"You came back here instead of going home." Lance said.

Oliver gave a one shouldered shrug. "Because we were unsure why Ms. Smoak had been abducted, I came here rather than QC because this would be where I hoped anyone seeking a ransom would look for me after work. I was also thinking that it was more centrally located than the house would be."

"You didn't contact your mother?" the lieutenant asked, eyes narrowed.

Oliver shook his head. "We didn't yet know that this wasn't linked to her campaign, and I didn't want her to feel guilty for something that might not have had anything to do with her."

"You weren't concerned for her safety?" Lance pressed him.

Oliver shook his head again, holding his face impassive with an effort. "Walter Steele would have called me if she had needed me." He was sure Lance knew there was more going on, but couldn't put a finger on what it was.

"Where was your sister during all this?" Lance asked.

"I asked her to stay with Mr. Harper thinking it would be better for her to be with someone but away from places she might be expected to be in case someone made a second attempt."

"But Merlyn found her here," Lance probed.

"That was my fault," Thea said, laying her hand gently on Oliver's shoulder. "Oliver was coming to Roy's house to tell me about what he knew and that was where he got Ms. Smoak's text. He wanted to come to Verdant to see whether the van was still in the lot. I wanted to help."

"You searched the van, didn't you?" The lieutenant was pissed, but Lance was unsurprised.

Oliver was unrepentant. "Yes, of course I did. I didn't want to take the chance that there was something in there that could tell me where she was."

"So why did you leave here?" the lieutenant asked sharply.

"Ms. Smoak developed an app that allows the three of us to track each other. After Alderman Blood's near-riot and the potential for violence that my mother's acquittal represented, she wanted each of us to be able to track the others. It's a heavy drain on the phone battery and so I thought if we drove around the Glades we might be able to catch a break and locate her."

"Turns out the vigilante was equally interested in Ms. Smoak's whereabouts." Oliver had to bite his cheek to keep from snarling at the lieutenant's tone. "He was seen on one of the traffic cameras leaving a building where three men were later found with arrows in their chests."

Felicity snorted. "I saw them when Mr. Merlyn took me from the building. Those were black arrows. The vigilante only uses green arrows."

"You didn't mention them before." The lieutenant was suspicious, but Felicity looked at him as though he were crazy.

"It never occurred to me that you might confuse them."

Oliver had to bite his cheek again. This time to keep from laughing.

Lance looked at Oliver. "How did Merlyn contact you?"

"By phone."

"I'm guessing he didn't ask for money." Lance looked at Felicity.

Oliver shook his head. "No. He told me that I had two hours to reach his estate or he would start by cutting off one of Ms. Smoak's fingers for every 5 minutes I was late. I got the bike from QC and drove out there."

"Why take the time to go for the bike?" Lance asked.

Oliver sighed. "He specified that I come alone. This was the quickest way to indicate I took his threats seriously."

Diggle finished the last stitches and began to bandage Oliver's hand.

"How did that happen?" Lance gestured at Oliver's hands.

Oliver closed his eyes. "You saw the ballroom."

Lance nodded.

"He had me stand on the platform, holding onto the rings. Thea was tied it the chair facing me, Ms. Smoak to the chair at the side. Once Mr. Merlyn armed the bomb under Ms. Smoak's chair he also triggered the spikes, saying that if I let go of the rings the bomb would explode. He walked out of the ballroom, and I guess the building. To wait for the explosion."

"Which didn't happen even though you released the rings." The lieutenant was still snarky.

Oliver nodded. "I know. Almost the instant he shut the door, the lights went out. Mr. Diggle and at least two other people I couldn't see because of the dark fought off the people Mr. Merlyn had left behind, deactivated the bomb and freed Thea and Ms. Smoak. Once I knew they were alright, I let go of the rings and we got out of there."

"Was one of those people the vigilante?" the lieutenant asked.

"Could have been," Oliver said. "Could've just as easily been the Easter Bunny. I couldn't see."

"The Arrow came to Verdant about 20 minutes after Mr. Queen left," Diggle said, turning to the cops. "He said that he knew what Merlyn was planning and said that if we helped him, we could probably get everyone out alive."

"You didn't think to call the cops?" the lieutenant asked.

"In the Glades?" Roy laughed, harshly. "Merlyn and his people burst in here and grabbed Thea. They knocked me down hard enough to knock me out and left me for dead. Oh, yeah, you'd have come down here on my say-so alright. In a flash."

The lieutenant rolled his eyes and Oliver knew he was thinking that if Roy had mentioned that his girlfriend was Thea Queen, they'd have fallen all over themselves to get down here, especially with her mother running for mayor.

"Did either of you see his face? Could you identify him?"

"What, you mean the 6ft, green leather, arrows and a bow aren't enough?" Roy asked.

Both cops shot him a dirty look and Oliver snorted a laugh.

"Is this funny to you, Mr Queen?" The lieutenant had a shorter fuse than Oliver had thought.

"His girlfriend is back, safe and sound, and you want him to rat out one of the people who helped? Yeah, it's kinda funny."

"So why didn't you go to the hospital to have those treated?" Lance motioned at Oliver's hands.

"You mean, aside from the obvious point that I'd still be waiting for treatment? I hate hospitals." No point in mentioning that the way they tended to look at his scars made him feel like a lab rat under scrutiny.

Thea stood up. "If you gentlemen have any other questions, it would probably be best if you route your requests through QC's legal department. Monday."

She herded them out like they were stupid drunk and locked the doors behind them. Turning to face the rest of the group, she said to Sara "I think this calls for champagne."

Felicity smiled and said, "I think you're right." She leaned over to Oliver and said, "Can I have my hand back? I need to use the washroom."

With a small smile, he kissed her palm and released her.

"Don't start without me." she said. "I'll be right back."

They were in almost the same positions as before when Felicity came back. She took up her seat again, offering her hand to Oliver, who took it. "Can I summarize the highlights for you?" she asked, looking at Thea. "Getting to the whole story could take hours."

Thea understood the subtext. Oliver is upright through sheer force of will and I want him to keep his promise, but I also want to spare him pain. Let me give you the high points from our side.

"That sounds fine."

"It began with a book, your father's book. He gave it to Oliver and, as we later found out, the names on the list inside were all people involved in what they referred to as the Undertaking. We didn't find out until he was almost ready, that Malcolm wanted to create an earthquake to destroy the Glades. Basically, until we found that out, we'd been tackling the names one at a time for their specific crimes. Along the way we also discovered that the copy your father gave Oliver was not the only one."

"Did my mother have one?"

"Yes. Walter found it and asked me to take a look at it because the copy your mother had didn't have visible writing. This was before I became deliberately involved in Oliver's crusade."

Oliver snorted. "Crusade is a grander name than it deserves."

Felicity looked at him reprovingly. "No it's not. Making things right by using the list was essentially fulfilling your father's dying wish. I suppose you could call it penance just as easily, but I think of it as a crusade."

Thea found their interchange funny. Oliver was clearly uncomfortable with anything that made him seem heroic in any way. It was possible that he felt that way about this issue particularly because he hadn't been able to stop the quake from happening, or Tommy from dying.

But Felicity clearly saw Oliver as a hero. As her hero, it seemed. It wasn't clear yet if they were in love with each other, but Felicity clearly cherished him. And that was all good as far as Thea was concerned.

And it made Thea happy that Felicity, as well as Oliver, had made it clear that they considered her Robert Queen's daughter. The idea that Malcolm Merlyn was her biological father made her nauseous. The fact that their mother had lied about it her entire life made her furiously angry as well as confused.

"Was Malcolm the one who abducted Walter?" Thea decided that Felicity's way of telling this was good, but these were the high points she was interested in right now.

"Your mother had siphoned off a sum a little over $2 million from QC, which Walter originally asked me to trace because he had questions about the story she'd told him about why. I found that the money went to an account that had rented a warehouse in Starling City, which Walter went to check out. He found that it held the salvaged wreckage of Queen's Gambit."

Thea looked at Oliver with an expression of dawning horror. "She knew where it sank? And the boat was all she brought back?"

Oliver looked at her and shrugged. "We haven't looked into when she had it salvaged. If it was after she knew where I'd been, it could have been that the salvage people were able to work back from Lian Yu to narrow down a search area."

Felicity looked at Oliver and shrugged. "Because it was sabotaged, we think she was using it as leverage against Malcolm."

"Sabotaged." Thea whispered, thinking 'and the hits just keep on coming!'

Sara caught Oliver's eye across the room, feeling much as Thea did. She could see in his expression that he hadn't deliberately kept that tidbit from her so much as simply not had time to mention it. If it turned out that Moira had known where the Gambit was before her son's return, Sara wasn't going to be as forgiving as Oliver.

"Anyway," Felicity continued, "I flagged that account so that I would get an alert when money came into or went out of it. It was dormant until your mother decided to run for mayor. There was a large transfer to a man who had been your mother's OB during the time she was pregnant with you. The payment was large enough to be hush money and I put her affair together with that and confronted her."

"She didn't deny it." Thea's voice was flat as a razor blade.

"No. I was trying to get her to tell Oliver at least, but she didn't want to and told me that I shouldn't tell him either."

"She threatened Felicity," Oliver said, his voice as tired as Thea had ever heard it. "It's why I believe she kidnapped Felicity, setting it up to occur on a day when you and I would be together so that I would see that what happened to you was a legitimate attempt to abduct you, and by extension so was the one on her."

"But you didn't." It wasn't really a question, because Thea could tell he hadn't had the least doubt. "Why?"

Oliver held up two fingers. "First, the attack at the campaign rally was only three guys armed with a stun gun. The guy who tried to take you didn't have any weapons that I could see and as soon as Roy and I showed, he pushed you at me as a delaying tactic. But there were 5 men who attacked Felicity in a nearly-empty garage and at least one of them had a loaded gun he was willing to use. Second, the man who attacked you was only wearing a ski mask, whereas the men who attacked Felicity wore full masks that showed no features at all. A completely different level of professionalism."

"Would you have told me about me if Malcolm hadn't?"

Oliver looked at her sadly and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "My first reaction was to bury it. I'm pretty good at keeping secrets and I figured one more..." he gave a half shrug. "But keeping those secrets wasn't keeping you or Roy appreciably safer. And insisting that he also keep those secrets was pushing the two of you apart when you most needed each other. So, I probably would have gotten to this point, but you'd probably be a lot more pissed with both of us."

"I'm guessing that this secret involves why he could get shot like that but not be dead?"

"Yes. He was injected with a drug that was designed at the end of WWII as a way to build a physically superior army that was hard to hurt and hard to kill. But the side effects are paranoia and ... anger management issues."

"Your brother's been trying to teach me how to control my strength and my anger. The last thing I want is to put anyone else in the hospital accidentally." Roy told her.

"I made his silence a condition of the offer. Even before he knew who I was."

Thea nodded and looked over at Roy. "I'm probably going to be seriously pissed with you when I have more energy."

Roy came up to her and put his arms around her. "You can do any thing you want, babe. I'm just glad you're alright."

Thea leaned into his embrace and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm so glad you came for me," she whispered.

"Always."

Thea released Roy and went over to Oliver. He stood up and opened his arms for her.

"I don't want to hurt you," she whispered. "I was so scared when you walked into that room. I thought I'd lost Roy, and I couldn't lose you, too!"

Oliver put his arms around her and kissed her forehead. "Scared me, too, when Malcolm said he had you."

"Let's not do that again, okay?"

"Deal." Oliver said with a smile.

Thea walked back to Roy and looked around the club. "Oh, wow! I just got it! Verdant!"

Oliver grinned, and Thea saw a flash of the boy he'd been. "The club exists because I needed a reason to be here in the Glades that wouldn't raise suspicion."

"I'd have gone crazy without it," Thea admitted.

"Tommy made it real. I think he'd be pleased you were taking care of it."

Sara came out from behind the bar. It made her happy that Oliver was finally at least starting to make a move where Felicity was concerned. The hand holding was a little obsessive, but so totally Oliver. Of course, if Felicity didn't need the reassurance as much as he did, she probably would have put a stop to it by now.

"I'm going home for the night, guys," she announced, pulling on her jacket. "I can drop Thea and Roy at his place on my way."

Digg stood up, picking up the bandages and such that he'd used on Oliver's hand. "I'll take this stuff downstairs and then I'll bring the car around front."

"What time is it?" Oliver asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Coming up on midnight," Felicity told him.

He thought for a moment. "So, almost Sunday."

"Yep." Felicity could see he was fading, reaching the end of his endurance. Why he was still coherent was beyond her. How did he not understand that times like these were how she knew he was a hero? "I'll have Digg drop me off at home. I need to bathe and then I think I'll burn these clothes."

He started shaking his head as she said the word 'drop'. "Come back to the mansion with me tonight." She opened her mouth to protest. "I have two words for you: soaker tub."

She looked at him carefully. There were several things running underneath his request, only one of which involved his being able to be sure of her safety. She wanted to explore them, but she was afraid that once morning came, his walls would be back in place and she'd still be on the outside.

He watched her think. He knew she was aware that his attitude towards her had changed, the public hand holding that was not part of his usual reaction around her was a piece of that. He needed her to come home with him because there was one more confrontation he had go face and he wanted her there for that. And after.

You keep hiding, you'll lose her. "I'm being devious, you see," he began and kissed her hand. "I'm hoping you'll come with me because I want to make it clear to my mother that she blew away any hope of reconciling when she attacked you. I've been several kinds of stupid about you and it let her think I either didn't care how you felt or maybe even didn't notice."

Felicity blushed. He wanted to kiss her senseless, but he didn't dare.

"I have lots of dark places inside me. I've tried to protect you from them, from me, by trying to keep you at a distance. These last hours have proven how spectacularly I've failed at that. Malcolm knew what I was hiding and he used it. By pretending we're only friends, I left you vulnerable and alone."

Felicity was shaking her head, but he didn't stop.

"We both could have died today and that would have been sad for our friends. But if Malcolm had truly just wanted revenge for Tommy, harming you, killing you, would have destroyed me. The look in your eyes when I walked into his trap told me you were feeling the same thing. So," he took a deep breath, "Felicity Smoak, will you marry me? Be my partner in front of all the world?"

"Yes," she whispered.

He kissed her hand again. "I would very much like to kiss you. From your head to your toes and take days doing it, but I'm not going to start something I can't finish. Not now."

She blushed again and put her free hand up against the side of his face. "I'm going to hold you to that."

Digg found them like that when he came in to see what was keeping them.

Oliver turned to his friend with a smile. "Digg, I'd like you to meet my fiancée."

Felicity blushed but she was smiling too. "I'm going to need some things from my apartment."

Digg grinned. "I'm very happy to hear that."

Predictably, Oliver insisted Digg go up with her, rather than stay with him in the car. She wanted to argue but decided not to waste the air. Even in his depleted condition, Oliver was more dangerous than almost anyone she knew.

She packed quickly, taking a couple of dresses for work and sundry underwear, toiletries and pajamas. She also grabbed her back-up tablet and the chargers for it and her phone. Stepping out of her heels, she slipped on a pair of flats and grabbed a pair of heels that would go with both dresses.

Digg was standing with his back to the door. "You're sure about this?" He waved his thumb in the general direction of the street. "He's not low-maintenance."

Felicity laughed. "I know. And I wouldn't have him any other way."

"Good. I just wanted to be sure, y'know." He reached for the door and then turned back. "I knew it was going to be hard on him, the not knowing. But there's a file on his mother's computer that you have to delete. Also, make sure the camera's gone. Remind him to destroy it."

Felicity's eyes narrowed and she nodded. Getting files off Moira's computer would be child's play. But how to punish her for spying, that would need careful consideration.

Oliver dozed on the ride out to the mansion. Felicity held his one hand between both of hers as she watched out the car window while city lights faded into the night. Predictably, Oliver was awake as soon as Diggle pulled up in front of the house.

Diggle helped Felicity out of the car, putting her bag in her hand, then gave Oliver his arm to lean on as he leveraged himself out behind her. "I'll check with you about Monday." Digg said. Oliver nodded.

Oliver put his hand in the small of her back and walked her up to the door. His face was closed, eyes dark, and she knew he was nerving himself up to take on his mother. She leaned over and kissed his cheek, murmuring "Go get 'em, tiger."

Which was how he came to be laughing when they entered the house. His mother came out of the living room, a stern, steely expression that almost made Felicity choke. It was so like her son's Arrow face, it was uncanny.

"Oliver. So nice of you to ..." She stuttered to a stop when she registered Felicity's presence.

"Allow me to present my fiancée, mother. We'll be going to the vault on Monday to see if any of the rings there will be suitable."

"I see."

"I doubt it. Malcolm's alive, but I guess you already knew that. He told Thea. Everything. She's staying with Roy for the time being and I'd wait before you go barging in on them because Malcolm nearly killed Roy for defending her. She's not going to want to talk to you until that scare fades. So maybe next year."

"Oliver,"

He held up a hand, at which time she noticed the bandage. She moved to see it but he drew his hand back. "QC will continue to support your campaign. Even though I'd be pleased to do otherwise, cutting you off now would harm the company's image far more than it would be worth."

"I don't ..."

"Please. Don't try to lie your way out of this, too. Because of your machinations, Felicity was vulnerable to Malcolm. He knew I would oppose anything he had planned regarding Thea and he used Felicity and my feelings for her to set a trap. I guess he wanted you to feel what he felt because of Tommy. The vigilante intervened and so nobody died, but that's no thanks to you."

"Oliver, I ..."

"I will not stay here with you in this house. I'll find a condo downtown, or something, but I will not stay here while you live here. If I wasn't so tired I'd leave now."

"I never intended..."

"Never intended to cut my heart out? Never intended to get John Diggle shot? I watched the security footage. If the elevator hadn't signaled, that man would have shot him a second time. How much you want to bet it would have been a head shot?"

Oliver turned away and led Felicity up the stairs. Out of sight at the top of the stairs, Felicity turned and put her hand against his cheek. With a deep sigh, he pulled her against him.

"Hell of a family," he said softly.

"Yeah, but your sister's a doll," she whispered back.

"And thank God for that!" Oliver smiled.

He reached for the door of his bedroom and Felicity put out her hand. "Digg said something about a camera?"

Oliver nodded and once they were inside he lifted the camera off the shelf and stamped on it, then put the pieces into the trash can from beside the bed and put it out into the hall. Coming back in he smiled when he saw that there was a tray on the desk with sandwiches and fruit.

"Raisa has worked here almost my entire life. She was the one who spotted the camera and very cleverly pointed out to me where it was, by not looking at it. You'll like her and she'll love you. This is her way of taking care of us."

He took off his jacket and sank into the desk chair then began to undo his shirt. Felicity stepped up help but he shook his head. She cocked her head at him in wordless question.

"I can't promise to keep my hands off you if you do that," he whispered. "I would like nothing better than to throw you across my bed right now, but ..."

Felicity cupped his face in her hands and kissed his forehead. "The spirit is willing..." She whispered.

"I fear so. Go wallow in the tub and enjoy. And Felicity, so you know, the bed frame is older than I am, but the mattress is all but new. I'm the only one that's ever slept here."

She smiled as she walked into the bath room. It was sweet of him to let her know that having her here was special. A first.

Oliver was asleep before she joined him but she woke the next morning to find herself enveloped in his embrace. She could hear his heart beating under her ear and it was a strong and regular beating that soothed her soul. She listened and let it lull her back to sleep.

Both of them slept most of the day Sunday. Felicity was able to keep Oliver from coming in to work at QC on Monday but that was the best she could do. Monday evening found him at the lair, stretching and doing some light sparring with both Digg and Sara.

She'd cleaned Moira's hard drive remotely while taking care of things at QC in Oliver's absence. Felicity knew that if it had upset Digg, whatever was in that file had to be bad, but she also recognized that if she didn't know what was in it, Moira could possibly still use it against Oliver even after the file was gone.

What she saw, what she heard, broke her heart. She erased the file, destroyed it utterly, and then left the building. She'd texted Digg to let him know she'd stepped out, and why, leaving the tracker on.

Felicity had seen the time stamp on the recording. If Moira had acted, had told the men holding her to release her, even as much as five or six hours after that recording had been made, Malcolm would not have found her there alone. Thea wouldn't have been alone with Roy at Verdant at that time of day, so she wouldn't have been there to be taken either. And Oliver ... Oliver wouldn't have had to submit to Malcolm's torture to protect them.

She knew she would never be able to look at Moira again without seeing Oliver's pain. There were any number of devious electronic things Felicity could do to make trouble for the woman, but too many of the best ones were likely to overflow the trouble onto her children and that was unacceptable. So she had put the thoughts aside by that night, and simply enjoyed watching Oliver move.

Felicity understood his need to drive himself. They'd stopped the man in the skull mask and his version of the Mirakuru serum, but with no clear idea of where he'd gotten the formula Oliver was still on edge. He hated being any kind of helpless and the spikes that Malcolm had used were making it harder for him to use the bow. And until the punctures healed more, even padding under his leather gloves couldn't make using the salmon ladder less painful.

It had been Tuesday before Oliver had taken her to the bank vault to look at the selection of his family jewelry. He'd found what she had to consider to be the perfect ring. It was a beautiful square-cut emerald as dark as his leathers, set in a platinum band that he was having sized for her. Felicity knew it was petty of her to want Isabel choke when she saw it, but she considered it karmic.

Each morning and each evening, Felicity had cleaned and bandaged Oliver's wounds. Friday morning he decided to simply wear a tee shirt instead of the bandages. Felicity didn't like the stress it put on his shoulders to put it on but she understood some of what was driving him today. Last Friday, after all, had started everything.

Friday evening they were met by another tray from Raisa. Felicity was touched by Raisa's thoughtful care. In the week she'd been living in the mansion with Oliver, Raisa was the only other person she'd met and they'd been instantly united by their shared mission to keep Oliver whole.

Felicity came out of the bathroom after her turn and was surprised to see Oliver in his pajama pants sitting on the edge of the desk. In front of him was an easel holding an oil painting. Based on their dress and their age in the picture, Felicity guessed they were his great-grandparents. Oliver had the man's eyes, but the woman's smile.

Looking closer, she saw the ring, her ring!, on the woman's hand. The affection between the two was evident in the way his arm wrapped around her waist and the way she held herself tucked in against him. How lucky they were.

"This is how I knew the ring was there, or ought to be," Oliver said, taking her hand. "This was painted for their 60th anniversary, the ring was a gift for their 50th. She never took it off until the day she died, of a heart attack at 87. He died in his sleep the night after the funeral."

"How sweet!"

"That's what I want for us," he said, putting two ring boxes on the desk. He opened the one with the emerald. "Digg picked it up with lunch today. It took longer because I wanted it engraved."

Felicity took the ring from him and read the inscription. "My Heart - O." She looked up at him with eyes swimming in tears. How could she not love this man, who would literally put his heart in her hands?

Oliver slipped the ring onto her finger and pressed a kiss into the palm of her hand, sending a wave of heat rushing through her. Of their own volition her arms went around his neck as he leaned in and kissed her. One hand anchored in his hair and the other sliding back and forth over the back of his neck and his shoulder, careful of the healing skin.

He put his hands on her hips and pulled her in against him. He'd threatened to kiss her senseless and he was doing an excellent job of that. He broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers.

"We'll need to make an announcement once you go public with this ring," he whispered. "We'll be a nine-days-wonder if we do it right, but if we try to hide it they'll just keep digging to see what else we might be hiding. I'll talk to Thea about how to do it, but we won't do anything until you're ready."

Felicity laughed. "I'd forgotten that anyone else might even be interested. I mean, aside from Isabel. I don't really have anyone who would care." She looked up at him. "There's only my mother and we're not on speaking terms."

They both paused over that. Felicity almost told him she'd seen the video, but something stopped her. Wrong place, wrong time. "So tell me about them," she said, gesturing at the painting.

Oliver smiled. "They met in the original company headquarters, which was actually torn down for the building where Verdant is now. I thought that was fitting. Apparently she was librarian soliciting donations for a new library for the neighborhood. After they were married, she went on to found and sponsor almost 50 libraries up and down the state."

She looked up at him with a disbelieving grin. "You mean that Mr. Queen married his IT girl?"

"Exactly." Oliver nodded. He reached over and opened the other box to show her the wedding bands the pair were wearing in the painting. "I want what they had. I want us to embarrass our children and scandalize our grandchildren because we can't keep our hands off each other when we're eighty."

How could she say anything but "Yes!"


	14. Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moira has more to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Only the mistakes are mine.

I've underestimated Ms. Smoak. I've tried to understand what he sees in her that he didn't see in any of his other liaisons and I can't. Now he's given her his great-grandmother's ring. The huge, perfect emerald that is conservatively worth more than he makes in a year at QC, probably more than three times what she makes.

I haven't seen it on her, of course. I haven't seen either of them this week. They come in late and always eat in his room when they're here. I almost wish I had an excuse to have Raisa cancel his request, but I doubt it would mean they would join me. So long as they don't move out completely, I can at least keep an eye on how he's doing, so I'm treading carefully.

My son is angry at me just now and I'm enough of a coward not to push him until he's had a chance to cool down. I'm not usually this clumsy or this easily found out and I'm more than a little curious how this whole thing came apart under me. I can see that I acted too much in haste, too much in the heat of the moment, regarding Ms. Smoak and now I will need to decide how, or whether, to proceed.

My associates are unhappy with me as well. Knowing that my problems with the girl began because she was spying on me has made me more circumspect in terms of how I deal with the financing of this fiasco. I have paid them what I can only call a 'poor performance bonus' to compensate for dealing with Malcolm. I had hoped, expected, the League would have been more proactive in that regard, but so it goes.

Walter wanted Oliver to speak at another one of my campaign rallies, but I've put him off indefinitely. He's as fond of Ms. Smoak as ever and the fact that Oliver has decided to become engaged to her was enough for Walter to accept that they would want privacy. I told him that both Oliver and Thea are now aware of her true parentage, which I think he will understand to mean that it would be best to leave them out of the campaign altogether going forward.

My associates were able to get me a copy of the police files on the whole business. I'm annoyed that the vigilante has taken such an odd attitude towards Malcolm, allowing him to survive even though comatose. Given the body count the man left behind over the list, I would not have expected the architect of that disaster to have been allowed any mercy. I am left far from satisfied, especially since the whole interview Quentin wrote up makes me curious about the things not said.

The story my children told the police, that Malcolm targeted them as a payback aimed at hurting me because of Tommy, is complete nonsense. Malcolm was not invested in Tommy in that way, saying how much the boy was Rebecca's son not his. He spoke more than once about how disappointing it was not to be able to draw the boy into the Undertaking without risking premature exposure. He misses his son, mourns him, but as a loss of potential, of his legacy, more than otherwise.

Of course, if Malcolm had understood that it was Oliver's distress, Oliver's insistence that something had to be done to stop the plan that drove me before the cameras, I could believe that he might have acted against my son like that. He would never have risked harming Thea in any case, though her Roy would not have survived the encounter. I'm not sure how it all came to pass, but it's most likely that the reality bore only a nodding acquaintance to the fairy tale they told Quentin Lance.

I still wish I could understand how and why Oliver was hurt. I can't imagine anyone allowing another person to sew up their hand if there was no injury there, so I have to accept that part of the story. It bothers me more than I realized that my son carries more marks on his body. The litany of injuries the doctor recited when Oliver was returned to me, injuries I hold Malcolm ultimately responsible for, still has the power to rend my heart whatever he may think of me. I wish there were some way to erase them and perhaps erase the memories of the pain they must represent.

There's also something here about the vigilante that I'm missing. I shot the man, after all. And he kidnapped and threatened both Oliver and I. So why would he do anything to interfere in a situation that could easily seem to be just a falling out amongst fellow criminals?

I'm missing something here, some link somewhere that I'm not seeing and it's bothering me. The vigilante is a dangerous man and I cannot ignore him, especially not if he poses a threat to my children. They may both hate me, but that won't stop me. If he poses a threat to them I will not hesitate to hunt him down and destroy him to keep them safe.


	15. Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter the Last from Thea's viewpoint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I only own the mistakes.

Mr. Diggle picked us up at Roy's early on Monday morning. I needed to get some more of my things from the house and I wanted to see Oliver. Mr. Diggle said that Oliver and Felicity would both be at the house this morning.

As we pulled up, my ... mother was getting into a limo out in front of the house. I had hoped we'd be able to do this without seeing her, but no such luck. She had probably hoped to catch Ollie, but I'm betting he was willing to outwait her if it took all week.

Mr. Diggle opened the door for me as Roy came around from his side. I could see that neither of them was any happier about this encounter than I was. She came towards me as if she wanted to embrace me but Roy stood with his arm around my waist and that seemed to be enough of a signal that she simply stood between us and the front door.

"Thea, darling! How are you? I was so worried about you! You should have called me."

Yeah. That's gonna happen. As soon as pigs get flight suits.

Roy and Mr. Diggle both nodded at her.

"Mrs. Queen." Mr. Diggle's tone could have put frost on a volcano, but she ignored him.

"Don't let us keep you," I said, not moving. "I'm sure they need you at your campaign HQ after everything that happened." It's been more than a week now but her people have been spinning it all like dervishes. If I hear the 'lioness protecting her cubs' line one more time...!

I could see that her bodyguard was watching us from the open back door. Normally he would have sat in the front next to the driver, but that spot was taken by a uniformed police officer. Which explained why she had a limo instead of the other town car. She had to hate that this meant sharing the back with the help.

"Thea..."

I saw red. She was going to scold me like a child when she'd been lying to us all my life? How did she look at herself in the mirror every morning? Oliver nearly died because of her lies and even though that's a truth we're not sharing, I can't help how knowing it makes me feel.

Still. I am not going to give her the satisfaction of explaining the whole truth to her. And I'm not going to start anything in front of three strangers, especially since one of them is a cop.

"I would hate to interfere with your schedule. I know it must be tight." I'm as calm as I can be, but I'm not moving out of Roy's embrace. Let her see that I'm accepting his support rather than hers and let her choke on it. "I just wanted to pick up a few things for while I'm staying with Roy."

"In the Glades?" Her tone is sharp and disapproving, as though it was that place that had put me in harm's way rather than this one. "I really don't think that's wise."

As if I cared what she thought. "It's closer to work and I'm not exactly unprotected. Really. It's fine. You shouldn't worry about it."

You should just get into your damned car and drive away. Really. Because I'm not moving until you're gone. And the more you press me for something I won't give you, the more questions those people you're hiding yourself from are going to want to ask you.

Finally, Moira nodded and turned back to the car. "Take good care of my daughter, Roy."

"I intend to, Mrs. Queen." I hope she heard the threat as well as the promise.

We didn't move until her car was in motion. Roy gave me a kiss on the cheek and went towards the kitchen with Mr. Diggle. I went upstairs to see Ollie.

I knocked softly on his door and waited for a response. If he wasn't up, I wasn't going to wake him. He should have been in the hospital, but how would we explain all the marks ... Malcolm left on him? I refuse to call that monster my father so I'll just call him Malcolm like Ollie does.

Mr. Diggle said he thinks that Ollie hated hospitals because everyone always stares at his scars. I know he's been very careful not to walk around the house without at least a tee shirt since he came home. I was almost sick to my stomach when Malcolm made him take off his jacket. I wish I thought I could get him to tell me what happened to him on that damned island, cause he was for sure not entirely alone there.

"Come in."

Ollie's voice was stronger than I'd expected. But then he's used to having to project a strong face, both as CEO and the Arrow. I wish there was some way to convince him he doesn't have to pretend for me, too.

He was standing in the window watching her car drive away. He was wearing a sweater with a tee shirt underneath that I suspect was hiding bandages. I thought for a moment about how he'd have had to move to put them on and hoped it meant that he was feeling better. Rather than the sneaking suspicion that he was pushing himself.

He smiled at me and I had to smile back. He looked so much better than when I saw him last at Verdant. He was as relaxed as I'd ever seen him since he'd come home.

But this isn't going to be home, now. Neither of us will stay here with ... her. I didn't want to get teary while he was watching, so I looked around the room.

"Why the portrait?" I asked. And then I saw the boxes. I looked back at Ollie and he was actually grinning. "Can I look?"

"Sure. We're going to need your expertise to pull this off with a minimum of chaos."

I sighed over the emerald. Their story had always seemed like the sweetest of old romances where they literally couldn't live without each other. When I saw the inscription Ollie had added, I had to do a lot of blinking.

I knew what was in the other box before I even opened it. They were such beautiful rings I was kinda jealous Ollie got to them first, but only kinda. Having given Felicity the emerald, they had to have these bands. But maybe I'll get something like them made for Roy and me. There was time for that kind of planning later, of course, but I liked thinking about it now and then.

"I approve," I said, turning back to him. "Of your choices in jewelry and girls. If it matters."

He takes my hand. "Your opinion always matters, Thea. Always has. You're my only sister, my only relative. We're family. We will undoubtedly infuriate each other many times down the years, but I hope you'll always remember that."

"You'll be careful, won't you? Cause if some punk kills you before I'm 80, I'm gonna be really pissed." It tumbled out before I could censor it.

He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. "You and my wife," he said, almost flippantly. I understood what he meant. Once he'd made up his mind about Felicity, she would have felt like his wife already, hang the ceremony.

"I meant what I said about wanting in, Ollie." I gripped his hand, looking him in the eye. "I don't like feeling like the decorative heroine, only there so the hero has something to rescue. I want to help keep you, and Roy!, safe and whole. It sucks watching you get hurt when I could have done something to prevent it."

"Don't think like that, Thea. There was nothing you could have done about Malcolm once he had Felicity. He would have made that call regardless of whether he could find you or not."

I wasn't entirely convinced, but it wasn't the main point of my argument. "I still want to be part of this crusade of yours."

Ollie looked at me and suddenly he wasn't Ollie. He was Oliver, the man who had survived hell on an island for five years; the man who had made himself into the Arrow. This was the man Felicity knew; the man Roy trusted to teach him how to save himself as well as others; the man a soldier like Mr. Diggle could follow and trust. The man I'd watched face down the crazy person who was my father, because he was my brother and he wasn't going to leave me alone.

"This isn't just my decision, Thea."

I nodded. I got a serious team vibe watching them working on him. I'd felt a little abandoned and cut off, but that didn't mean I didn't understand why and how they were working together.

"I understand there's a team here," I told him, nodding. "I just want to be part of it."

"This is a dark and dangerous life, Thea. Truthfully, if I'd thought I could have kept any of this from you without putting you in more danger, I would have done it in a heartbeat. There's a toll this work takes on you that I wish I could spare you."

I gave him a crooked smile and stepped up to him. "I guess that makes us even," I told him, "because I would have done anything to spare you what ... he did to you."

He put his arms around me and whispered into my hair. "Thea, it would have destroyed me to see you hurt like that. Even once. Of the two choices, I had it easier, I promise you."

I could hear the sincerity in his voice and I resolved that I was never going to mention it again, because it was clear that even the thought of it hurt him. I wasn't going to add anything to his burden when it was so easy not to. I wasn't giving up on my mission but I knew how to sidle my way up to it.

Oliver looked down at me smiling. "I told Digg you could give water relentless lessons." I didn't quite blush but I did grin.

Felicity came out of the bathroom wearing a canary yellow top and a bright turquoise skirt. She smiled at me as she came up to us. "Hi, Thea!"

She and Oliver embraced and I had to look away. He shows more than he ever used to when he touches her. She shows so much anyway, and when he touches her she closes her eyes and just leans into his embrace like a stroked cat. If it weren't for everything else, I'd be worried about diabetes, they're so sweet

I went over to the portrait and gave them some privacy. If Oliver was determined to go public with her now, I knew they weren't going to have much private time together. Especially with ... her campaign in full swing.

I was thinking about when we could best use Verdant to host them an engagement party when Felicity came up beside me, smiling at the couple in the painting. She tucked her arm in mine and said, "They look so in love."

"From everything I ever heard they were a love match from the start."

"I like that. Oliver thinks that if we go public in a big way, people are less likely to look for things we don't want them to see?"

I could tell she'd really rather he be wrong, but I know better. "We're news," I told her, giving her arm a squeeze, nodding back at Oliver. "Everybody wants to look and point and they feel like they're entitled to know Everything, whether we want to share it all or not. It's like we're always on trial, always on display."

I took a deep breath because I was beginning to get whiny and I hate how that makes me sound. "For a sample of how slimy they can get you should search YouTube for the circus surrounding the court visit he had to make to be legally resurrected."

Felicity winced and Oliver sighed. I guessed that she'd probably seen the footage at the time. I was reminded of it because I saw it again by accident, because of all the turmoil over the hell of last weekend.

"So," I said, pushing all that angst aside, "we need to figure out how to deal with the sharks without giving them any more than we have to. I have some ideas for you to consider, starting with a huge bash at Verdant to announce you two."

I started pacing as I talked. "I have a friend who is a stellar photographer. We can have him do your official engagement photo and a portfolio of alternates. Don't think I can't hear you rolling your eyes, Ollie! By having a professional we limit both the number of ambushes you'll have to endure, we also control what images circulate. We also, by offering them to one organization or another for a fixed fee..."

"Thea..." Oliver wasn't happy with the idea, but I wasn't finished.

"We make it clear that the money goes to a charity that benefits the Glades not to us and we'll encourage people who attend the party at Verdant to do the same."

By the time I was finished, Oliver was nodding. I was more concerned about Felicity because, let's face it, she's still new to the madness that is Starling City's social world. She looked over at Oliver and smiled.

"I think we can follow their lead on this, too. Don't you?"

Gaah! They're so sweet together I'm going to need a dentist on call by the time they get married. But for the grin he's giving her, the one I never expected to see on him again, I'll do it. Daily, if necessary.

A thought occurred to me. "Oliver, does Laurel know?" The way he closed his eyes made it clear she hadn't really crossed his radar. Idiot. "I think it would be a good idea to tell her before you announce to the rest of the world."

"I told you we needed your help," he said. The sigh that followed spoke volumes for all that might have been, but he wasn't grim, just annoyed to have forgotten to think of her. "I'll take care of it."

"So how come you two are both still here, other than having to try to outwait ... her?" I waved my fingers at the driveway and I could see both Oliver and Felicity knew who I meant.

"House hunting."

I nodded. If Roy didn't already have the house, I'd have had to find one too. "Where are you looking?"

"Personally I'm hoping to find something closer to Verdant. I don't want to start people asking questions, so it would have to be something we could justify as being funky and interesting." He shrugged. "There are several nice penthouses that would be close to QC, but I'd need to see how they handle security. Don't want to have to buy the whole building so that nobody questions when we have to suborn the security systems every night."

Felicity sniffed. "Nobody would notice."

That brought another smile. I had never considered how many balls he has to keep juggling just to get through the public part of his day. There have to be all kinds of reasonable explanations for any simple little thing he decides to do, so that nobody sees the real reason underneath.

And I had another brainstorm. "I'll have to talk to Roy to be sure," and had to stifle a laugh at Oliver's pained expression, "but if we got together and renovated a space into a duplex, that might be easy enough cover for living closer to Verdant than to downtown."

He cocked his head at me and smiled. "That's sweet of you Speedy, but I'm pretty sure Roy would hate it."

I understood his point, but I had another thought to put forward. "Probably, but if you and I put our names on the deed, and I changed my legal address from here to there, it would still give you enough of a fig leaf, wouldn't it?"

He looked at Felicity, who was smiling. "I'd believe it," she said. "Especially knowing how protective you are of her."

Oliver smiled at her and took her hand. "Roy will most certainly hate it, then. But if you're both willing, it might work."

If it takes one more burden off his shoulders, I'll make sure Roy sees it my way. I can be very persuasive when I need to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Sequel is called MIA and will be up shortly.


End file.
